The Coyote Gospel
by Virgins-and-Surgeons
Summary: Ichimin Kumorigachi has given up her old exciting life in favor of a more peaceful one, without shinigami and Aizen and all the drama that comes with. Unfortunately, she doesn't have to go looking for drama for it to find her. No rest for the wicked.
1. Prologue

Seireitei was relatively calm. As calm as it could get in the middle of a decades-long war, that is.

Zanpakuto clinked at the hips of every shinigami within Soul Society, as they followed their patrol routes and did their duties without (much) complaint. There was a tension in the air near tangible; there nearly always was, reveries restricted to times of peace fondly remembered and oft missed. There had been casualties, and there had been tragedies of all sorts in those fifty years since Aizen had declared war on them. The wear and tear was visible on the faces of many shinigami, though there were a few that hid it so well that you would've even know by just looking at them.

Within the Seireitei, business as usual went on within the Gotei Thirteen. And in one particular office, a Captain was currently enjoying tea in silence. A rag was on hand as he balanced between scribbling down mission reports in elegant cursive, occasionally taking a sip from the glass of steaming amber-colored tea and setting it down again to partake of a piece of candy to suck on. Very calm, very peaceful.

A knocking on the door broke the calmness, and Captain Jyuushiro Ukitake glanced up at the door with a small amount of surprise. He didn't get personal visitors often anymore; most of the time, Sentaro and Kiyone intercepted anyone aside from Captain and Lieutenant ranks and delivered their news or paperwork to him themselves. Honestly, Ukitake found it just a bit annoying that they were treating him like a fragile old man; sure, his illness had worsened over the years, but he was far from helpless. The Captain's coat was still on his shoulders, and it most likely would remain there until they pulled it off of his motionless body. And technically, they probably wouldn't even bother taking his since it would be soiled in his blood anyway.

"Come in." He called, setting his pen down quietly and watching the door as it opened. He saw who it was and smiled, watching them step inside the doorway and show him a stack of papers with a slightly apologetic smile. "Well, how you dodged my overenthusiastic third seats, I'll never know." He waved them forward, towards him. "Come inside, before they catch up with you and shoo you away from the frail old man."

She complied, closing the door quietly and stepping forward to the desk before bowing respectfully. There was silence from the woman, long blondish hair hanging as a veil between them in her bow. Ukitake smiled still, sighing beneath his breath. "And let me see these papers you've got for me. Sometimes, I think they do it just to keep me from tracking down Captain Hitsugaya and giving him what candy I don't eat. He must have gotten tired of it and had them start giving me more work." He chuckled, as she straightened up and showed him amusement flickering in her dull green eyes. Holding out the papers to the Captain, she brushed her hair behind her ear lazily and merely shrugged a bit, as if she were agreeing that it may be what actually happened. The Captain read over the files, finding them to be run-of-the-mill forms that he must have signed a million times, and after noticing that his visitor was just standing there uncomfortably, he glanced up and gestured to the bowl beside him.

"Well, while I'm doing this, why don't you have some candy? There's tea too, if you're a bit parched from the trip. I know Sixth is quite a ways from Thirteenth."

In response, Ukitake got a surprised glance and then a slow nod from his visitor, who poured herself a cup of tea and sat down in a chair she was waved to. And Ukitake noted that his visitor looked rather healthy for what she'd recovered from, as she stared blankly out a window with the rim of the glass at her lip.

Ichimin Kumorigachi was silent as she sipped her tea, staring out the window just as quietly. She sipped at her tea and then glanced down into the glass, before looking up at Ukitake and then pointing at the cup questioningly. Ukitake just chuckled. "It's a very nice blend, yes? Captain Unohana lent me the recipe. If you'd like it..." He trailed off, watching as Ichimin smiled warmly and nodded her head. It was almost odd to have a one-way conversation, near eerie, but Ukitake was unbothered. No one could really put the blame on Ichimin for not answering anyway; more or less, not being able to.

It had taken a long time for Ichimin to advance beyond a veritable coma, to regain the ability to move of her own accord and string together coherent thought again. Unohana had cited it to be a total mental breakdown, and nobody had said anything different except in hushed tones about the traitor's whore coming back crawling on her belly, and those venomous whispers hadn't faded and most likely never would. She had developed some quirks (the nicest way of saying it) ever since coming back to Seireitei, as a result of what she had told them that had happened with her while in Aizen's care. But the one that hindered her the most was one that she wasn't able to overcome. Ukitake got her attention again with a wave of his hand, and she set down her glass and took the finished paperwork under her arm with a sympathetic smile, mouthing a 'thank you' to him. She couldn't actually tell him her thanks, could only mouth the words and give him a smile that showed it was genuine. She was completely mute. Unohana cited major psychological trauma as the likely culprit, and could give absolutely no possible quick cure. There wasn't really anything anyone could do, since it was all psychological and the only thing possible was therapy, and nobody was willing to give the effort, nor did they have the time.

Not that it mattered all too much, as Ichimin got by just fine with facial expressions and hand gestures, and occasionally writing things down for people. Her phobia of the color white was controllable, though she was obviously very uncomfortable around a lot of it. Ukitake may have been the exception, since she had found the man to be very agreeable and a good friend. She waved in goodbye to him after accepting more candy than she would be able to eat, leaving Ukitake's office just to meet Sentaro and Kiyone. The two of them seemed incensed that she had snuck around them, instead of going through them to talk with Ukitake like she knew they wanted. But then one began to bicker with the other, and Ichimin took the time to slip away and head out of Thirteenth as quickly as she could. Though as she left the building and faced where she would be returning to, Ichimin sighed despondently and closed her eyes a moment. That was what she hated about them reinstating her as a shinigami; they had her under constant surveillance, they relocated her to another Division under a Captain that she hadn't proved friendly with and wouldn't be able to coerce or recieve lenience from.

Unfortunately enough, that Captain proved to be one that she really, really, really didn't like. Hate was too strong a word, but it was close. And she missed Eighth, and Nanao, and even Kyoraku's odd drunk grabby happy moods. No, she got the one Captain that she had once had as her (mental) nemesis.

Her trip to Sixth Company was long. And it was arduous. And it was unhappy.

Her arrival was much the same, though much more so.

Quickly did Ichimin head up to the Captain's office, knocking on the door and waiting a moment. After a beckoning, she stepped inside and bowed to the man at the desk, ignoring her quietly. He waved her over after a moment, keeping his eyes on the paper under his pen. He then tapped his finger on the desk, and Ichimin complied with laying the papers down on the desk and bowing again near robotically, before turning for the door.

"Kumorigachi." Byakuya Kuchiki called her back, and she turned again to face him, silent as always. He raised his eyes only briefly to see that she was paying attention, before returning to the paper on his desk and continuing to write. "Captain Unohana wished to know of any new developments in your condition." His voice was a flat monotone, uncaring and seemingly unfeeling. Ichimin's eyes were the same as she shook her head, in a 'no' motion. Byakuya's eyes flickered up to see the motion, before he began to ignore her again. "Very well. Dismissed." With the short dismissal Ichimin turned on her heel and walked out stiffly, passing Renji on the way. She gave him a small smile and a nod, but nothing more was exchanged between them as Renji went on his way and Ichimin went on hers. It was late, getting there anyway. The sun was already going down. As a precaution for keeping Ichimin (still under heavy surveillance and heavy suspicion of possibly still working for and allying herself with Aizen in secret) from possibly seducing anyone in her own Division for ill reasons, she lived within a shared room in another Company.

Unfortunately enough, if she worked under a Captain she disliked very much, she roomed in a Division she would really rather have not had to stay in.

It was a long trek from the Sixth Company to the Twelfth.

* * *

The Twelfth Division wasn't so bad, if you got a good room.

Too bad Ichimin didn't get a good room.

She slipped into the Division when it had long become dark out, walking through the Division building quietly. She passed a few people staying up late again; mainly people staying up late working, but more than a few of them looked like they wished they could be in bed at that moment. Ichimin passed Akon as well; she nodded respectfully to him as he passed with a glass of steamy liquid that appeared to be coffee, and he gave her a nod of acknowledgement and not much else. He passed her on the way to what Ichimin guessed was the Living World surveillance room, and she headed straight to the barracks. Her own room happened to be a storage room that had been altered very nicely for her; a futon and a table, along with a desk and a couch. Most would have seen the furnishings as spartan; Ichimin compared them to Las Noches' "guest" rooms and found that she was thankful that this dusty old storage room wasn't blank white.

Ichimin sighed, one of the few sounds she could make anymore, before getting ready to sleep. Twelfth Company (the entire Division, which seemed incredulous to Ichimin until she remembered who the Captain was) woke up at seven in the morning, beginning to work then. Anybody that didn't get up was subject to Kurotsuchi's wrath, and nobody wanted that, least of all Ichimin. She was usually up at five, so she could leave early and avoid meeting Mayuri himself. Kurotsuchi apparently didn't need a whole lot of sleep, because he could be seen at odd hours in the division building, on the rare occasion he left his lab at such hours. Still, it had only taken one meeting with Kurotsuchi in the early hours of the morning to terrify Ichimin into never being up at five again, since he seemed to wake up then when he actually slept at night.

Through the open window on the side of her room, Ichimin heard a party going on in Eleventh and smiled just a bit. They sounded like they were having a blast. She continued getting out of her shihakusho until she was in her sleeping clothes; a thin white kosode eerily similar to the one she wore on her execution day, the one she ostensibly should've died in. And she kept Kyokkou within arm's reach at night, just in case. Consider it paranoia, or possibly fear. Whatever it was, it fueled Ichimin's nightmares and she hated it. Silently she laid down for bed, closing her eyes and wishing for sleep.

Not even the eerie metallic noises from far off, nor the unearthly moans and occasional screams from Kurotsuchi's labs could disturb her beyond the norm as Ichimin slept in preparation for the new day.


	2. Family Life

**((Now that I have a main idea for how Gospel is going to go, I can say that for right now, this story is going to be less focused on action than the others and more focused on the characters. And if things seem confusing now, the next few chapters will clear things up quite quickly. Thanks again you guys.))**

* * *

There were soft noises in her ear; she felt exhausted and would more than anything wished she could have ignored them. But the noises grew louder, turned into words. And she felt a tugging on the sleeve of her clothing. Another whisper, curious and at the same time, urgent.

"Mama!" The soft voice whispered again, and she opened her eyes.

"Yes honey?" the woman mumbled, sitting up and looking down sleepily at the little girl holding onto her sleeve tightly. She smiled warmly, as the little girl held on tight to the sleeve of her plain-patterned kimono and stared up with a slightly concerned expression.

"Are you alright, mama? You were making weird noises." The little girl said curiously, and the woman blinked rapidly for a moment before shaking her head gently.

"Yes baby, just having a dream." She spoke almost sadly, keeping a warm smile on her face while her voice remained remarkably hoarse. The little girl blinked, before nodding her head and smiling. "Okay mama. Just wondering." The woman stood up and the little girl let her hand slip to hold the woman's. Her kimono was dirty, a soft pink color with little cherry blossoms on it, while the older woman's was a dull grey and very dirty. The two of them walked through the dim shack, past the shabby futons in the corner of the room, and to the door.

"Go on and play with Setsuo and Eiji, Fujiko." The woman urged, and the little girl looked up at her without moving. Seeing her not wanting to leave, the woman kneeled down and whispered something to her.

"Kenshin is coming home soon, but don't tell Setsuo or Eiji. It's a surprise." She said quietly, as two boys ran around in the area in front of the shack roughousing. The little girl's bright green eyes brightened with joy, and she nodded with a big smile before running off towards the two boys, her long black hair flying after her. The woman watched them all play with one another, beginning a game of tag, as her long red hair hung at the small of her back, dull green eyes light with amusement as Fujiko got the drop on Eiji and tagged him. Eiji cried out in surprise, his long blond hair in a ponytail behind him and his brown eyes wide in surprise. He looked to be around adolescence, maybe about fourteen or so, and was wearing a sleeveless grey kimono. Setsuo was smirking as he watched them, long black hair also hanging in a ponytail along his back. His eyes were dark, dark blue, almost black, and his kimono was a light blue color (and he hadn't sliced off the sleeves, like Eiji had on his kimono). He looked around sixteen. Fujiko was giggling as Eiji fell, before jumping back up and tackling the smiling Setsuo. She looked around ten, the youngest out of the three. The redheaded woman chuckled quietly, turning and heading inside the shack again to start the housework. She gathered up the clothes needing washed, and some soap to wash them with, before heading to the open door of the shack and calling out to the children in front.

"I'm going to the riv...er to wash clothes; come get me if anybo...dy shows up, and be careful." She called out to them, her voice cracking and going out for a moment at certain words, before coming back. The three children nodded before returning to their game, mainly Fujiko watching Setsuo and Eiji mock-fighting. The woman turned and headed through the shack, towards the back door while passing a sword leaning against the wall, in the corner of the room. Heading through the back door and outside again, she passed a small garden with vegetables and fruit growing and through a grassy field, to a clean river. There she kneeled, washing the children's kimonos and a few of her own, much shabbier ones; her clothes were always older, shabbier, less cared for. All the spare money she had went to the children; the woman needed nothing that was so important to her as to come before other things, like meat and other foods she couldn't grow in the garden.

After finishing washing their kimono and hakama, finishing with the fundoshi and undergarments before heading back with the damp clothes (after wringing them out of course), heading back to the shack and putting the damp clothes out to dry, heading back inside to see the children buzzing around a taller figure with deep blue hair and mischevious golden eyes, laughing loudly. The redheaded woman waved to him, calling out loudly.

"Kenshin!"

The man glanced up from Setsuo, Fujiko and Eiji, smiling and waving back to her.

"Hey ma, how you been?" He laughed, heading over to the woman and hugging her. She laughed, finding that he was taller than her, and then walked inside with Kenshin while Fujiko, Eijin and Setsuo followed them in. They sat around the low table, settling into the scrappy but comfortable cushions and talked.

"So, ma, anything happen while I was gone?" Kenshin asked as the redheaded woman drew up tea for them all. She shook her head, smiling gently.

"No, nothing in particular. A quiet life in the outer limits of Rukongai, nothing else." She fell quiet, as Eiji grinned.

"How's Rukongai, Kenshin?? Life in the big city exciting?" He asked quickly, and Kenshin laughed.

"It's pretty exciting, but I can't tell you specifics. Ma would be absolutely horrified to know what sort of risky things I've been doing." He spoke quietly, with a mischevious grin on his face, before hearing a loud scoff from the woman.

"Probably, seeing as it's you. Knowing how you are, I'd probably have a heart attack and die right here." She mumbled, getting a laugh from Kenshin.

"Oh come on, ma. Just because you've got that big illustrious name doesn't mean you've never indulged a little bit and done some good old fashioned sinning?" For that he got a thump on the forehead; he rubbed it with a pout as the woman glared.

"I'll have you know that Amaterasu is a lovely name, thank you very much. And just because I'm a boring old woman and you're some spry young stallion doesn't mean that you're getting any better than me." the redheaded woman scolded, Eiji stifling laughter and Fujiko openly giggled, while Setsuo just smiled.

"Yare yare, Amaterasu Tachibana is a great name. A real long one, but..." Kenshin trailed off, looking a mix of innocent and bored and in a direction away from Amaterasu. She merely smirked behind her cup, beginning to listen to Kenshin relate the marvelous adventures he had had in Rukongai. Some of these were very...risque adventures, stories he would begin but then abruptly stop, as soon as he caught the look in his mother's eye, which was much to Eiji's disappointment. Soon Amaterasu sent Setsuo, Eiji and Fujiko to bed (they protested, but Kenshin told them that he would be there in the morning so not to worry, and they begrudgingly went to sleep) and she and Kenshin sat out front on a blanket and talked quietly. Kenshin had produced a bottle from the bag he had brought back with him, waving it in the air with a coy smile. Amaterasu smirked, heading out front and sitting out on the blanket. It was a warm summer's night, pleasant and perfect.

"So," Kenshin began as he poured a small glass of sake for both himself and his mother, "How have things been? I know you've been missing me, right ma?" He sipped, as Amaterasu did the same. She shook her head gently. "No, nothing at all. Nothing exciting for anyone as hot blooded as you, anyway. What is this I hear about you getting in a huge barfight with some shinigami?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, and Kenshin laughed heartily.

"Well, it's a very long story, but if you _insist_..."

"Yes, I do. Spill it, Kenshin."

The blue-haired young man laughed nervously, before beginning. "Well, I was at a bar, schmoozing it up with a couple cute waitresses because hey, they were pretty cute," he caught the even more incredulous stare from his mother, and ignored it, "And I happened to see this ugly dude grab this _really_ cute waitress and start harassing her. And, me being the gallant, chivalrous young man that I am, began to get up so I could go help her. And I think, 'She looks like she can handle him, I don't need to get involved'. And then she pushes him away, and he slaps the dog shit outta her. Well, I just couldn't let that sit, oh no, because hitting women is something no honorable man should ever do, unless she kicks you in the nuts for no reason, because that's a different matter. So I go over there, punch the guy right in the nose, and I slam his head down on the table and I tell him that he needs to keep his goddamn hands to himself, and that he shouldn't have hit that woman, because she looks a hell of a lot less ugly than he did." Kenshin explained with large motions showing his greatness, his mother's dismay raising with every word.

"And then, the guy and his buddies stand up and grab their Zanpakuto, and I see the shihakusho and I realize, 'Oh shit, these guys are shinigami and I'm fucked'. So I grab a bottle of sake, clock this one guy in the head, grab his Zanpakuto while he passes out, whack another one with the sheath, jump up on the table to dodge someone slicing at me, kick that guy in the face, felt the blade of the first guy's sword actually whizz past my back and cut the back of my clothes and slices me. I turned, caught another shallow cut from shoulder to my hip," He demonstrated the slice with gestures, not noticing his mother's alarmed look on her face, "And then I stamped my foot down on the blade and onto the table, and I said something totally badass. I told the guy, 'You got no idea who you're messing with, 'cos I'm one bad motherfucker', and then I headbutted him as hard as possible. And I won the fight! As I knew I would." Kenshin laughed heartily again, pounding on his chest with his fist in a manly motion. And Amaterasu just stared.

"You...you're an idiot, Kenshin." She sighed, and Kenshin coughed in surprise.

"Ah! I am insulted, mom. I'm a chivalrous, kind, gallant young man that you raised me to be, and you're calling me an idiot. It hurts." He said sadly, overdramatically. "It hurts right here." He pointed to his heart, giving Amaterasu puppy eyes. She just laughed, unable to hold it back any longer.

"Poor baby, I'm sorry." She patted him on the head, ruffling his odd-colored blue hair as she did. He bowed his head as she did, keeping up the act of being hurt.

"Thank you, it helps." He muttered, before they both broke into peals of loud laughter. They laughed for a good long while, before calming down and discussing less magnificent adventures over their drinks. Eventually, it got very late and their sake was gone, mother and son decided to go to bed.

"Man ma, how th' hell d'you drink li' tha'? It'sh amazin." Kenshin slurred, hanging on his mother for support as she lead him back inside. She shushed him, before answering in a whisper.

"I guess it's just that some people take alcohol better than others. I made up your futon; go ahead and go to bed." She helped him over to his futon and he dropped onto it like a log, next to Setsuo. Amaterasu sighed as he fell asleep almost instantly, and pulled the heaviest layer of clothing off of him, leaving him in his fundoshi so she could wash his clothes for him. She also happened to see his bare chest and notice the spiraling tribal tattoos on his shoulders and arms, sighing.

"Such a wild child. No matter how old you are, you don't get any more mature, do you? Just like a little kid." She stared down at his sleeping face (he was drooling into his pillow, snoring) for a moment and then smiled warmly, brushing his hair out of his face. She leaned down and kissed his temple, to which he mumbled something in his sleep that she couldn't understand but sounded oddly close to 'The clown has no penis'. Amaterasu just blinked, before brushing it off and setting his clothes out to be washed tomorrow, setting out dry clothes for him in the morning, and then sitting down quietly and watching her children sleep.

A faint buzzing was in the back of her mind, a call.

Amaterasu glanced over to the sword in the corner, the urge to go over to it nigh irresistable. She almost did, had already begun to get up and move towards it, before stopping herself and turning her back on the lone blade.

"Not my life anymore." She told it, glancing down at her calloused hands.

"Too much blood is on my hands. I can't hold you anymore. Never again."

The call faded from a buzz to a hum, and from a hum into nothing. Quietly, Amaterasu sat there for a moment before moving to her own cot across the room, pulling the sheets over herself and falling asleep near instantly.


	3. Awesome Drunken Family Dinner

**((Warning for manly bolding overdose. Courtesy of Kenshin.))**

* * *

Amaterasu was the first to get up in the morning, as usual. She was up at six or seven, already starting to make breakfast with what they had on hand; eggs, white rice, milk, leftover creamy mackerel stew that she took care to heat up over the fire pit in the shack (the floor was cheap mat, but a special area had been stripped down to bare dirt and a pit had been dug just for this purpose), in a large steel bowl. The eggs were cracked and cooked in the way that each child liked (Kenshin favored sunny-side up on white rice, Eiji and Fujiko liked them scrambled, and Setsuo liked them boiled), all set out on the table as the food finished cooking. The delectable smell wafted through the small shack and soon enough, Amaterasu heard all-too-familiar groans from the direction of the futons.

"Ugh...it's so bright..." The annoyed voice grumbled, and she smiled as her back was to him.

"The sun doesn't dim just because you're hungover, Kenshin." She gently admonished, hearing him groan in response. She then heard a choked gurgle, and looked back just in time to see Kenshin staggering out the front door with a hand over his mouth. A moment later, she heard loud vomiting outside, and sighed gently. She also had a headache and her hands were shaking slightly, but it was virtually unnoticeable. The alcohol Kenshin brought with him was very strong liquor; Amaterasu was curious as to where her son had gotten a hold of something that expensive, but decided to let it slip since Kenshin being home was all that really mattered. Currently, the mother was fixing a drink that worked very well in curing hangovers, something she had picked up awhile back from someone else in Rukongai. A 'Prairie Oyster', they called it. She cracked the raw egg into the glass, taking care not to break the yolk, before pouring in a bit of Worcestshire sauce (not easy to procure in Rukongai; she had had this expensive bottle for awhile, though it was getting near the bottom), some tomato juice, a couple dashes of vinegar, and a dash of pepper.

"Kenshin, come back in. I've got something that'll fix up your hangover." Amaterasu called to him, hearing him spit and then wander back inside.

"Yeah? It'll have to be magic to fix this one." He murmured, a hand over his eyes. Setsuo, Eiji and Fujiko were still sleeping soundly, though Amaterasu would soon wake them up; Eiji snored into his pillow, Setsuo reacting by giving his brother a kick. Fujiko was on the other side of Kenshin's futon, sleeping peacefully. Amaterasu turned and sat the glass down in front of Kenshin, to which he glanced at, made a face to, and pushed away gently.

"No way am I drinking whatever the hell that is." He grumbled, before the glass was pushed back in front of him.

"It'll fix your hangover, and you'll be able to stomach breakfast. Drink it."

After a moment, Kenshin grabbed the drink and downed it in one gulp, feeling the icy cold and foul-tasting mix slide down his throat and into his stomach. He shivered in disgust, coughing loudly and spitting back into the cup.

"Aw ma, that's nasty!" Kenshin groaned, pushing the cup away and then thudding his forehead on the table with a low moan. Amaterasu just picked up the dirty glass and rinsed it out in a bin of water near the door (reserved for dishes only; clothes were washed in the river), drying it out with a rag and putting it away silently.

"Give it a minute, and it'll work. I'm making breakfast, and I'm making eggs and heating up stew." She told him, hearing a muffled response from Kenshin as she turned and walked past him, to the other three children. A slight shake on Setsuo's shoulder woke him up, and he was already getting up and brushing his hair out before pulling it into a ponytail after the first shake. Eiji was more difficult; at the first shake he just opened his eyes for a moment, nodded to Amaterasu, and then when she moved to wake up Fujiko, rolled over and went back to sleep. Fujiko whined that she was tired, and Amaterasu shushed her and told her that it was time to get up. She stopped whining, instead crawling over to Kenshin and waiting patiently for breakfast and watching him with curiosity. Amaterasu headed over to Eiji again, shaking his shoulder and speaking this time.

"Eiji, wake up, it's morning." She told him sternly, and he rolled away from her and ignored her again. She then took him by the hand and pulled him out of bed, tugging him away from the warm sheets and over to his cushion next to Setsuo, who was already looking awake, proper, and as stoic as always. Eiji grumbled something to himself as he sat down, already producing a hairtie and groggily pulling his hair into a messy ponytail.

"Morning you four, I made a big breakfast so make sure to eat well!" Amaterasu spoke cheerily, long red hair brushed back over her shoulder as she smiled to the four. Kenshin and Eiji had their heads down on the table. Fujiko looked incredibly tired, while Setsuo was doing his best not to nod off at the table. Amaterasu sighed, already fixing their dishes.

"Kenshin, Eiji, get your heads up and eat." She ordered gently, setting down plates in front of them as the two did as ordered, Kenshin looking sick and Eiji looking groggy.

"Medamayaki for Kenshin," She sat the eggs down in front of him, handing him the chopsticks to eat it with a moment later, "Scrambled for Fujiko and Eiji," the two of them took their chopsticks with a muttered thanks and began on their plates as well, "And three boiled eggs for Setsuo." Setsuo thanked Amaterasu quietly, stabbing an egg with a chopstick and sticking the whole thing in his mouth before beginning to chew.

"K'I have salt, ma?" Kenshin muttered, getting the small bowl of salt a moment later and taking a pinch of it to sprinkle over his eggs. "Thankya." He mumbled, shoving some of his eggs and rice in his mouth. Eiji glanced up to Amaterasu as well, speaking a bit more lively than he had been before.

"How about-" He began, before she handed him the soy sauce. He thanked her quickly, before watching her dole out more food. She set a glass of milk out for each of them, followed by a small dish of rice and a bowl of mackerel stew. After all the kids got their food, Amaterasu finally sat down herself with a large bowl of stew, some rice, and an omelet filled with diced vegetables and small bits of leftover meat from various meals. Amaterasu noticed that Kenshin wasn't dressed yet beyond hastily pulled-on hakama, probably having forgotten about those tattoos being visible to his mother. Eiji was staring at them quite intensely.

"Wow Kenshin, when did you get tattoos?" He asked eagerly, and the groggy Kenshin spat out a mouthful of rice and milk. He realized his topless nature, and that his mother was now staring quite pointedly at him, and laughed shakily.

"Eh...heh...well, it's...yannow..."

"I know very well, Kenshin. Don't you think I saw them, since you woke up in nothing but fundoshi? I saw them last night." Amaterasu was currently using a rag to wipe milk and rice off of the table and off of her kimono. Kenshin was babbling, before stopping abruptly at realizing what she'd just said.

"Wh...what? You're fine with it?"

"Believe it or not, Kenshin, your old woman of a mother was young at one point in time too, a long, long time ago." Amaterasu finished cleaning herself off, setting the rag down and beginning to eat her omelet quietly. Kenshin began to explain it to an eager Eiji and a curious Fujiko, while Setsuo remained focused on eating his breakfast but was listening in quietly. Apparently, it was on a manly dare that Kenshin had gotten those tattoos done, in a single session.

"It was a **manly dare** from another **manly man**, in **ONE SINGLE SESSION**. We were at a bar, a very** manly** **bar**, and drinking **manly drinks** while talking about **manly things**." Kenshin began explaining VERY LOUDLY and with random inflection on random words, already regaining his normal bravado. Eiji piped up right around then.

"What sort of manly things?" He asked eagerly, and Kenshin glanced down at his eggs innocently.

"I can't say because ma would kill me. But rest assured, they were **manly things**." He said quickly, getting a disappointed groan in response from Eiji.

"Anyway! Those **manly things** were being discussed in a **manly tone**, namely us yelling them. But then my buddy, who was a very **manly man** as well, said I might not be as much of a **manly man** as I said I was. I balked! How could _I_, the **paragon of manliness** that is Kenshin Tachibana, **not** be **manly**? And so he gave me a **manly dare**; to get some **awesome manly tattoos** done all at once, and they had to be **manly**, no _pussy tattoos_ like a little flower or anything."

A loud 'ahem' from the other side of the table got Kenshin's attention, and he saw Amaterasu's stare.

"Erm...heh, I mean wussy. I said _wussy_ tattoos. **Anyway**," Kenshin once again took on a dramatic tone of voice as he related the story, "I said, '**Sure, let's go and I'll have you eat my manly...' **heh, I mean,** 'your manly words!'**, and so we went to a cheap tattoo parlor with a very **manly man** that did the tattoos, and I got these **_awesome manly tattoos!_** And that's how I got these _**awesome manly tattoos**_." He finished, draining his milk dramatically and throwing his hand up with a manly flourish. And it would have looked extremely manly, what with Kenshin sitting in front of the window and being backlit by the sunlight pouring through, as well as glinting off the glass held high in his hand like a disco ball.

If Kenshin hadn't had a milk mustache that made him look absolutely goofy with the self-assured expression on his face practically screaming, _'I know I'm so freaking awesome'._

Eiji and Fujiko were in awe of Kenshin's awesomeness (they thought he was the coolest person on the entire planet). Setsuo was smirking slightly but attempting to force it down. Amaterasu was practically grinning behind her glass, trying not to laugh. Kenshin looked over questioningly, and Amaterasu tapped her lip with a crooked smile she was trying to reign in.

"Huh? Oh!" Kenshin murmured, setting down his glass and wiping his upper lip off.

Breakfast was finished, ending with Kenshin what everybody else couldn't finish, before everyone set to doing what they normally did. Amaterasu cleaned up, washed the dishes, while Fujiko began to mess around with her dolls, Eiji and Kenshin mock-sparred out in front (shirtless, because Kenshin spent as much time as possible not wearing a shirt and Eiji emulated Kenshin as much as possible), while Setsuo studied out front under the shade of a large tree. The day passed lazily, before Amaterasu called Kenshin and Eiji in, Setsuo following quietly.

"I'm going to Rukongai to run errands later. Kenshin, watch Setsuo, Eiji and Fujiko while I'm gone." She told them while gathering up vegetables and fruit to sell for other staples, after Eiji and Kenshin had walked in and sprawled on the floor like big cats. Eiji and Kenshin immediately sat up again, as Amaterasu finished gathering things up.

"Ma, you can't go alone! It's the sixty-ninth Sector; it's dangerous!" Kenshin spat, standing up in alarm. Amaterasu ignored him, already moving around the shack quietly while he protested.

"Come on, let me come with you; I can-" He began, before Amaterasu brushed past him.

"You can watch the three people that need your protection the most. I'm a grown woman, I can handle myself." She stated gently, but sternly. Before heading out the door, she called back.

"I'll be back shortly, and Kenshin, don't you dare follow me and leave these three alone." She added on at the end, already beginning the walk across the grassy field in front of the shack. Hearing no argument and nobody following her, Amaterasu contentedly walked the distance to Rukongai (she didn't know exactly how far it was, but it was a good walk until the buildings of the dirty sector were even visible) until she found the main street, quickly merging with the wandering crowds roving the city. On her arms were two baskets full to the brim with vegetables and fruit, and she was totally aware of the hungry stares she was getting from the residents with reiatsu. The other stares were greedy ones; people wanting the contents of her baskets to sell for some quick money, and a few were stares of another sort directed at the woman herself. She ignored the stares, keeping on her path without so much as a glance to them.

The shopkeeper she stopped at looked untrustworthy as he stared greedily at her baskets while she set one down on the blanket he was using as a makeshift store.

"Selling." Amaterasu said simply, as he took a ripe tomato and examined the vegetable closely. It was plump and shiny, with no blemishes on the skin and no discoloration at all. He tsked, frowning. The woman raised an eyebrow.

"The matter?" She asked simply, as he sat the vegetable back in the basket.

"These produce are of a substandard quality. I can't give you full-price for them."

"And...what are you going to give me for them, then?"

The shopkeeper thought hard for a moment, before speaking quite plainly.

"Ten."

"Ten for the tomato?" Amaterasu questioned, and the shopkeeper laughed in a condescending sort of way.

"Ten for the basket. Now, I'm being very generous in this offer; any sane man would only take a quarter of that for this quality." He already had his hands on the basket, pulling it towards himself, before her hand caught the handle and tugged it away from him.

"Such a shame, I had thought they were perfect to sell. I suppose I'll have to just accept that they aren't worth that, hm?" She asked with a sigh, and he nodded, already attempting to pull her basket back towards himself.

"Yes yes, a damn shame. Now, I'll just take that..." His fingertips brushed it before she turned around, walking away from him.

"Well, I'm sure there are some other people that will be more than happy to have them no matter the quality." Amaterasu said simply, walking off. She heard the shopkeeper sputtering out something behind her, already walking up to her and putting his arm around her shoulders, steering her back towards the blanket.

"Now now, let's not be hasty, eh? I mean, I'm not completely closed to haggling; that's the spirit of merchants, right?"

Amaterasu eventually got slightly below full-price for the basket, not selling the other one. She quickly purchased foodstuffs for a large dinner and things to last them awhile, moving fast to avoid trouble if she could. After getting her things and filling the empty basket with them, she set off down into the dirtier and more dangerous part of Sixty-Ninth, once again ignoring the more malevolent stares she was getting from people hanging out in the alleys and in dim buildings. She walked down one particular alley, calling out as she did.

"It's Amaterasu." She called out to thin air, setting down the basket of fruits and vegetables. She wasn't expecting an answer, only spoke again.

"More than usual, because the shopkeeper tried to cheat me again." She turned away, calling back over her shoulder. "I'll be back soon enough with more, when I can." It was an afterthought, but Amaterasu just kept walking and ignored the sound of someone dashing forward and snatching the basket quickly, before running back into the shadows where she couldn't see. They never said anything to her, because why trust some random woman? It didn't matter, she wasn't doing it for admiration and notoriety. She just kept walking with her remaining basket, briefly recalling the bag of candy stuck down among the produce as a gift of sorts. From there she walked into a very seedy looking bar and sat down quietly, her basket in her lap.

Needless to say, she got some odd looks.

A hand on her shoulder, Amaterasu glanced over at the owner with disinterest. A shinigami, a scarred-up mountain of a man too, sliding into the seat next to her and pulling her towards him.

"Hey, what's a pretty girl like you doing alone?" He queried, before Amaterasu pushed him off one-handedly.

"Waiting." She stated in monotone. "And I'm not a girl, I'm four hundred fifty-six." She added on at the end, before his hand was around her waist and he was turning her chin so that she was looking at him.

"You look like you need company." His breath reeked of alcohol, and she slapped his hand off of her and righted herself in her seat.

"You need your eyes checked. I don't." She snapped, and heard him mutter an insult, before rearing back to hit her. A hand caught his wrist as he swung, and he glanced back to see a man staring unamusedly at him.

"The hell are you?" The shinigami growled, before the man moved to take hold of the shinigami's pinky finger instead.

"What are you-" He began, before the man bent his little finger all the way back and snapped it with an annoyed expression. The shinigami shrieked, as Amaterasu stood up and kissed the stranger on the cheek.

"Hello Isamu. Don't be too long, I'll be outside." She told him, before getting her basket and walking out the door.

"Got it ma." He called back, before dragging the shinigami to the ground and cracking his knuckles. "I'm gonna have fun." He muttered with a sadistic half-grin, as Amaterasu stood outside the door and saw another standing in wait.

"Gendo, good to see you." Amaterasu spoke to him, smiling warmly. The young-looking man she was talking to was quite tall, long black hair tied back in a scholarly fashion with silver-rimmed glasses low on the bridge of his nose. He didn't smile, just spoke quietly, remaining quite stoic as always.

"Mother, it is good to see you again." A shout was heard inside, followed by crashes, things breaking, and maniacal laughter. Gendo remained quiet a moment before speaking again.

"As you can see, Isamu is as passionate about raising hell as ever." He spoke with the barest tone of annoyance in his voice, as Amaterasu chuckled slightly.

"I expected nothing less. Kenshin is home as well, I should warn you. We all know the confrontations between Kenshin and Isamu are nothing short of epic." She spoke, as more maniacal laughter sounded from inside with vulgarities thrown in for good measure. Gendo ignored it, as if he were very used to the noise.

"Wonderful. I'll be expecting the fireworks to burn down the house."

Amaterasu leaned inside the doorway, right in the middle of hearing Isamu shouting 'You want somma this? You want somma this??' and more crashing. She saw the scene; tables overturned, glasses broken, people sprawled out on the ground, and Isamu in the middle of kicking a guy in the face with reckless abandon.

"Isamu, wrap it up or you can walk home alone." She called, and he glanced over to Amaterasu and then growled.

"Fine." He spat, kicking a table over into the remaining two people willing to fight him and then stalking out of the ruined bar with a scowl. He stood slightly taller than Amaterasu as well, his short black hair bushy and wild and his eyes sharp and expecting an attack from any direction at any moment. Gendo wore a blue kimono that had long billowing sleeves, while Isamu wore bright red and with short sleeves. They both had Zanpakuto on them, Isamu's strapped to his back while Gendo's was at his right hip. They began their walk back to the shack, across the field and out to the small home.

* * *

As soon as the three walked into view, the first thing Amaterasu was met with as she walked in the door was Kenshin letting out a sigh of relief.

"Ma, you're safe! I was sure that..." He began relieved, before trailing off as Amaterasu set the basket of foodstuffs on the table and the two others walked in behind her. Gendo walked quickly to the table, sitting down while Fujiko and Eiji stared on curiously at these newcomers, Setsuo closing his book and sitting beside Gendo quietly. Isamu walked in the door, pushing aside the cloth-like material hanging over the open hole and staring blankly at Kenshin.

"Who're they?" Fujiko asked Eiji. He shrugged. "I dunno."

Amaterasu was already pulling the basket over to the fire pit, beginning to prepare dinner for them and ignoring Kenshin and Isamu completely.

"The hell are you doing here?" Kenshin growled. Isamu stared at Kenshin, speaking with annoyance in his voice.

"I could say the same damn thing." Isamu mumbled distemperedly, already reaching over his shoulder for his sword. Kenshin tensed, preparing to swing, before they were both boxed on the side of their heads.

"Nuh uh uh, we're having dinner like sane people. Isamu, Gendo, you haven't been home in years and you have to meet Fujiko and Eiji. So Kenshin, Isamu, sit down and shut up." Amaterasu snapped while waving a stirring spoon threateningly at the two of them, before turning away from them and beginning to prepare what could be seen to be a very elaborate dish. After a moment of strained silence, she heard an annoyed huff and a muttered insult before the noise of two people sitting down heavily.

There was silence as Amaterasu cooked and Isamu and Kenshin calmed down, mainly by ignoring one another. Gendo and Setsuo were currently talking very quietly about things that Isamu, Kenshin, Fujiko and Eiji didn't understand. Kenshin and Isamu were engaged in the glaring match of the ages. Eiji was staring between Isamu and Kenshin, wondering if they were going to fight. Fujiko was sneaking up to Amaterasu's side, trying to see what she was making for dinner. She saw her mother slicing a small fish very carefully, painstakingly and into pieces so thin as to be transparent. When she tried to get some of the fish to nibble on her mother shooed her away quickly. After a moment, Fujiko started to listen in on Setsuo and Gendo's conversation over the Temmei famine in the Living World in the span of time between 1782-1785, though she didn't really comprehend most of the debate.

After a good period of time, the food seemed to be done and Amaterasu started setting it out on the table with great care. It would turn out that she had gone to great pains to make this dinner the best they'd had in a long time, with some expensive things bought to make the dinner extravagant. Kenshin and Isamu forgot their disdain for one another for a little while, drooling over the various dishes Amaterasu sat on the table before them.

"Ma...is that fugu?" Kenshin asked as she sat down a plate of very thinly sliced fish before them, the food set on the nicest plates they had (decorated with an ornate chrysanthemum with this particular dish).

"Hm? Yes, that's why dinner took so long. I thought, since Isamu and Gendo are here for the first time in a very long time, that we might eat very well tonight." She murmured distractedly, putting down the Fugu sashi and then placing a bowl in the center of the table containing Fugu Hire-zaki. The other dishes were relatively mundane: onigiri, yakizakana, a bowl of steaming ramen for everyone at the table with various toppings, and oden in a hot pot at the center of the table.

She sat out tea for everyone and a clay jug with no outside markings in the center of the table, before sitting down herself.

"Ma, how did you afford all this? I mean, we're not too bad off, but...I mean, we're not rich." Kenshin queried, shoving an onigiri in his mouth and making a face at finding the umeboshi in it.

"Selling some things." She answered simply, already beginning to eat quietly. After getting a blank stare from half the table, she sighed and spoke again.

"You know those random gifts I keep getting from suitors? The ones that want to marry me for some silly reason or another?" She asked nobody in particular, already beginning to partake of some of the non-expensive, mundane dishes. Isamu, who already had an entire boiled egg in his mouth at this point in time, was the one to answer.

"Oh yeah, that puss that drop off presents with really overblown love notes but won't stick around long enough for us to get ahold of 'em?" He spoke around the boiled egg, before Kenshin blinked.

"Hey, how come he gets to swear but I don't?" He asked with indignation, snatching a fish cake out of Isamu's fingertips and shoving it in his own mouth.

"Because Isamu is an adult who doesn't live in my home anymore, therefore he gets to do whatever he wants." Amaterasu answered in deadpan, watching Eiji and Setsuo battle for the yakizakana. Setsuo won, before staring at the disgruntled Eiji and moment and halfing it with him. Kenshin huffed, before the conversation went on.

"Yes, it's him. I'm starting to suspect it's a noble or something, because the presents are getting more expensive. Apparently, he thinks we're poor starving people too because he's giving me a lot of very expensive food too. I can't fathom why they even bother with a humble peasant woman like myself." She muttered the last part, as Isamu took the unmarked jug in the center of the table and examined it with curiosity.

"I assume that it's because you're attractive in a passive way, you're humble, and they know that you make an excellent mother." Gendo finally spoke, Setsuo obviously attempting to emulate the reserved older man by nodding. Amaterasu sighed in an exasperated sort of way, to herself mainly.

"They think I want to be treated like a queen, or that I am a woman pining away for a hero to come sweep me off my feet and rescue me from the doldrums of a normal life in the outskirts of Rukongai. I got that wish out of my sistem many years ago; now all I want to do is live peacefully." She sighed, dull green eyes snapping to the door as a person burst through, pointing at Isamu and Gendo and shouting.

"Hah! I finally found...you...two..."

It was a young woman with brown hair and green eyes, looking slightly confused when she saw Amaterasu and the others with Isamu and Gendo. She stared at the food, before glancing over to Amaterasu while Isamu groaned loudly and Gendo closed his eyes a moment.

"...Are you guys robbing this lady? How could you! I knew you two were trouble, but really, forcing a woman and her family into feeding you? That's monstrous! Or did you coerce her into feeding you? Nah, you aren't smooth-talkers..." She was trailing off, before Amaterasu began laughing gently.

"Young lady, I'm sorry but you're mistaken. These two aren't robbing me." She admonished gently, before looking between Isamu and Gendo. "Your friend? And what sort of things have you two gotten into to make her assume you've robbed me?" Isamu thudded his forehead on the table, muttering obscenities.

"Fuck." He muttered, before sitting up and staring at the young woman.

"Chinatsu, what the hell are you doing here?" He muttered at her, as she walked over to the table. She put her hands on her hips, scolding both him and Gendo.

"What the hell am I doing here?? You two ditched me and left me alone, that's what! I had to go to the bar you smashed up, Isamu, and they told me the directions to this house!" She snapped, her dirty pink kimono swaying with her motions. "And you didn't tell me you were running off to eat a hot meal! What, we haven't eaten in awhile and you just abandon me at the first notice of food? What, did you beg for something to eat? Threaten to burn down her house?"

"We're here for a family dinner." Gendo stated in monotone, and Chinatsu just stared.

"...Oh."

She stared at the food again, and her stomach growled loud enough to be heard. Amaterasu waved the girl over to the table, giving Isamu a shove and stealing his cushion to give to the girl.

"Hey, what the hell ma??" He growled, and Amaterasu stared a hole through him.

"You abandon a woman, and I hear about it, you pay for it. I taught you better than that, you two." She admonished, taking Gendo's tea and giving it to Chinatsu (who looked very awkward at the moment, but also kind of amused). Setsuo poured his tea into Gendo's glass when Amaterasu wasn't looking, before pouring himself more discreetly.

"Now, miss Chinatsu, feel free to eat whatever you'd like." Amaterasu smiled benevolently, going from slightly vindictive to motherly on a dime. Chinatsu blinked, before laughing nervously.

"Oh, I couldn't impose-" She began, before Amaterasu was pushing her bowl of ramen in front of the girl.

"No no, I insist. I can eat other things, we have a lot of food." She said with overbearing warmth in her voice, cutting off any arguments from Chinatsu that the girl could even make. The woman blinked, before looking to Gendo and Isamu (who was sitting on the floor, disgruntled, while Kenshin was smirking behind his cup) a moment and then speaking.

"You guys had an awesome mom that cooks for you, and we didn't even go see her when we nearly starved to death?? You're idiots! I mean, why'd we scavenge around Rukon all day for food when whe could've just come here? No offense, miss Tachibana." She apologized quickly, which Amaterasu waved away.

"Because we're grown men that can take care of ourselves, if a woman didn't force us both to stay together and therefore, feed three people instead of one." Gendo spoke with a tone of annoyance in his voice, instead of the normal monotone he spoke in. Chinatsu huffed, speaking loudly as she shoved food in her mouth slavishly.

"Hey, didn't your dad teach you how to talk to a woman?? Speaking of which, where is your husband, miss Tachibana? And why don't any of you look alike?" Chinatsu asked, being met with silence. Nobody spoke, though Isamu was glaring a hole through her and mouthing, 'Bitch, shut your ass up'. Amaterasu had fallen silent as well, before being the one to answer the uncomfortable Chinatsu.

"None of my children are related to one another or to me. I simply take in children that I find in Rukongai; feed them, clothe them, take care of them. I have, for a very long time, been the unofficial orphanage for this Sector of Rukongai." She spoke quietly, an alarmed look growing on Chinatsu's face as she realized the trigger that she'd accidentally hit.

"I have no husband as well, nor will I ever. I do not care for men," She picked up the empty dishes and set them in the tub of water to wash later, "And the suitors I have are pretentious men that assume I did not want to raise children that are not mine and that it is because I feel like I have to." Her voice was soft, but intense, as she moved to sit back down at the table.

"Isamu and Gendo were my first two that I took in, not long after I arrived in Rukongai. At that time I did not have much, and we very frequently went without. Random men from Rukon decided my home was apparently a place they could take over as their own if they so choosed, and many showed up at the door demanding food and board with no charge. I had trouble chasing them off, but it wasn't exceedingly difficult. Isamu and Gendo grew up quickly, as I cultivated a garden out back for us to survive off of. Eventually I took in Kenshin off the streets, and he grew up with Isamu and Gendo as brothers. When they were grown, Isamu and Gendo left and went their separate ways to make a living in Rukongai, and I took in Setsuo, Eiji and Fujiko to raise along with Kenshin. Kenshin eventually left as well, to spend a year in Rukongai to get a taste of the city." Amaterasu narrated quietly, everyone listening closely as she spoke. Chinatsu flushed, beginning to speak.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" She began to apologize quickly, before Amaterasu cut her off with a wave of her hand.

"You didn't know."

Chinatsu was quiet a moment, before speaking again. "But if you needed money so much, why not just be a shinigami? If you're eating, that means you've got reiatsu, right?"

Amaterasu's wooden chopsticks snapped between her fingers, Isamu now actually whispering, "Shut up, shut up!". Gendo was looking slightly alarmed, as was Setsuo, while Eiji and Kenshin were waving their hands and mouthing 'no, for the love of god, no'.

"I absolutely loathe shinigami, and would rather starve than serve as one." Amaterasu's voice was sharp, obviously bitter, as she stood and began to wash the dishes in the tub, almost as a compulsion to balance out stress.

"I'm...sorry..." Chinatsu mumbled, getting a hot glare from Isamu and a sharp stare from Gendo. And Amaterasu was smiling brightly, almost eerily cheerful, as she leaned up and smiled at Chinatsu.

"Oh, don't be, don't be. Asking questions never hurt anyone." She spoke awfully cheerfully, a serenity dissonant to the fact that she was grinding a rag into an ornate plate extremely hard. After realizing that she had been cleaning the same three plates over and over again, she let go of them and dried her hands, turning her back on them. Her eyes laid upon the lonely sword in the corner, before she turned quickly and paced to the other side of the room in a near neurotic manner.

"Anyway, there's fireflies outside." Amaterasu noted, and Eiji, Setsuo and Fujiko brightened up. They practically ran out the door, partly because they loved fireflies and also slightly because they didn't want to be around Amaterasu when she was as neurotic as she got at times like this. This left Chinatsu, Isamu, Gendo, and Kenshin in the house with her. Amaterasu sat at the table again, taking the clay jug from the center of the table and pouring some of the liquid inside in a glass for everyone at the table.

"What's this?" Isamu queried, looking at the drink questioningly. Chinatsu sniffed the liquid, to see if she could guess what it was. Gendo merely sipped delicately, as Amaterasu poured a hearty glass for herself.

"Hanazake." She stated in a deflated tone, as Isamu blinked, not comprehending. Kenshin was doing the same, as was Chinatsu.

"Powerful liquor. Sixty percent alcohol." Gendo stated, taking another small sip.

"Sixty percent? How powerful is that, exactly?" Chinatsu queried, while Kenshin downed his in a competition with Isamu as to who was more of a badass. Without saying a word, Amaterasu made her way to the fire pit, took a small bit of timber with a small flame on the end, and dropped it into her glass. Immediately, the alcohol lit on fire, producing a small flame on the top of the liquid.

"That powerful." Amaterasu stated, blowing out the flame and sitting down at the table, waiting quietly. Chinatsu was staring wide-eyed at her glass, taking a small sip before blinking, and then taking a drink of it. She, like Gendo, had only a quarter-full glass, while Kenshin and Isamu had half-full glasses. Amaterasu's was completely full. After giving the glass a few minutes to cool off, Amaterasu drained the entire glass, stopping the argument between Kenshin and Isamu on who was more of a badass mid-sentence as she did so and then proceeded to pour herself another glass.

"Um...miss Tachibana...not to be rude or anything, but...are you sure you'll be fine drinking that much?" Chinatsu asked hesitantly, getting a nod from Amaterasu in response as she took a sip of her new glass.

"I'm fine." She stated, ignoring Chinatsu mainly. The night went on, all the hanazake was drunk, Eiji, Setsuo and Fujiko came in with smears of luminescence on their cheeks and hands (turns out they had caught the fireflies and broken them open to smear the glowing insides on themselves like war paint), were washed up by Amaterasu and then sent to bed while Kenshin and Isamu got rowdy and were told to take it outside. They did, being incredibly drunk, and decided that a drunken brawl was an awesome idea.

"C'mon, little bitch." Isamu slurred, swaying gently as he stood before the house, drawing his Zanpakuto. Amaterasu was inside, as was Gendo, while Chinatsu sat outside and watched with worry. She heard Amaterasu calling out to her from inside the house, her voice slurring.

"Don't worry...they'll pass out once they move too much..." She mumbled, and was proven correct when Isamu ran at Kenshin and staggered, tumbling to the ground. Kenshin wavered, before dropping to the grass himself. Chinatsu blinked, looking back to Amaterasu, who had her head down on the table.

"How did you..."

"Drugged their drinks when they weren't looking."

Chinatsu blinked, feeling tipsy herself. She watched Amaterasu stand, swaying dangerously as she started to walk. Chinatsu rushed to her side, supporting her, before being pushed away gently.

"Know how to walk." Amaterasu slurred, Gendo soon walking with her and turning her around towards the shack again.

"I can put them in their beds. Go to sleep, mother." He said quietly, as Amaterasu leant heavily on him. She closed her eyes a moment, mumbling something before slipping to the floor in a crumpled heap. Gendo and Chinatsu both helped pick her up, and move her to her own futon.

"She always like this?" Chinatsu asked, as they dropped her on her bed. Gendo turned, heading out for Kenshin and Isamu.

"No, not usually. She's been a mother to children not her own for years upon years, on top of whatever she was before then, which she never speaks of. I think she earns herself respite now and then." Gendo said in his solemn monotone, before pointing to an empty futon.

"You can sleep there; Isamu sleeps on the roof and Kenshin has his own bed with the other children." He stated, as Chinatsu sat on the aforementioned futon and waited. After a little while and some banging noises, Gendo walked back in with Isamu's sword and sat against the wall, closing his eyes. Chinatsu laid down as well, yawning a moment before closing her eyes and going to sleep.

* * *

**((Long boring chapter, I know, but the next is actually having something interesting happen! Be looking for it.^^))**


	4. Assault and Awakening

"Mm...huh?"

Chinatsu opened her eyes, sitting up and looking around the room. It looked like it was very early in the morning; Isamu wasn't inside yet, the sun was amazingly bright and close to the horizon, Gendo had his eyes closed and was still leaning against the wall, Setsuo, Eiji and Fujiko were still sleeping, and Kenshin was passed out on his futon drooling. Amaterasu had her head under the sheets. Chinatsu looked around the room, at a loss.

"Well...what do I do now?" She mumbled to herself, before getting up and walking over to the kitchen.

"Hm...everybody's going to be hungover when they wake up..." She winced at a small but annoying pulsating headache behind her left eye, "So I should probably try and make breakfast or something."

She began to poke around the kitchen, getting ready for the morning from Hell.

* * *

Setsuo opened his eyes, sitting up and looking around. Gendo was doing that weird thing where he either sleeps or just pretends to sleep because he's paranoid, Kenshin was sprawled face-down in the covers, snoring, Amaterasu was balled up in the fetal position under her sheets, Chinatsu was throwing random ingredients into the pot of boiling water over the fire pit to try and make something edible, and Setsuo glanced out the window just in time to hear Isamu scream obscenities as he opened his eyes and got a face full of sun, before rolling off the roof with his hands over his eyes. Setsuo laid back down and rolled over in time to hear the loud 'thud' outside and Chinatsu running out after him, screaming something about 'dumbasses that sleep on the goddamn roof'.

* * *

Kenshin opened one eye and sat up quickly enough to lose his balance and fall back over. He then picked himself up, choked back vomit, and stared on as Chinatsu accidentally touched the metal pot and burned herself, sticking her finger in her mouth a moment afterwards. Isamu was laying in a heap in the corner of the room, facing the wall. Gendo was walking out the back door and heading towards the river. He crawled out the front door to go vomit outside.

* * *

Eiji rolled onto his stomach, hearing a lot of noise. It woke him up, and he wasn't happy about that. Sitting up to see who was being loud, he heard Kenshin vomiting loudly outside the front door (and was that the sound of agonized sobbing?), before watching Isamu crawl out the back door and begin doing the same thing. Chinatsu squealed about how disgusting that was, before getting a hand rag and starting to try and smother a small fire threatening to erupt from the cauldron of whatever the hell she was cooking. Sighing, Eiji stood up and tied his hair back in a braid, before deciding to go sleep in the grassy hill nearby where it was quiet.

* * *

Fujiko opened her eyes, sitting up to see what all the noises were. She looked to Amaterasu and was surprised to see her still sleeping, her head under her pillow and the odd giggle coming from her. Shrugging, Fujiko looked to see Chinatsu now reading the back of some labels Amaterasu had put on some things in containers.

"Hm...cod roe? Would that go well with fruit?"

She seemed to ponder it a bit, before shrugging, dumping the contents of the container into the boiling...concoction, smiling to herself.

"Oh well! It'll all turn out alright in the end, I bet."

Gendo walked in at that moment in only his hakama, his top slung over his shoulder and currently pulling his hair back into the normal ponytail. Chinatsu turned to see him walk in shirtless and jumped, spilling boiling hot..._things_...all over the floor, before beginning to mop it up quickly.

"For God's sake Gendo, put on a shirt!" She muttered, Gendo ignoring her. Fujiko spotted the form of Isamu outside, curled into the fetal position. She looked the opposite direction, and saw Kenshin doing the exact same thing.

"...Huh?" Fujiko had no idea what was going on, only standing up and walking towards the door. She wanted to go chase dragonflies in the flowery field next to the grassy hill nearby.

* * *

Setsuo opened his eyes again, unable to ignore the noises now. He spotted Kenshin and Isamu sitting on either side of the tub of cold water that Amaterasu used to wash dishes, both with their heads submerged. They would come up for breath now and then before submerging their heads once again, ignoring one another as they did. Chinatsu was humming as the stuff in the metal pot over the fire pit seemed to be gurgling, an odd smell floating through the shack. Gendo was sipping tea and had a wet rag on his forehead, apparently nursing his headache. Amaterasu was still giggling now and then, giving the odd mumble of something or other in a soft muffled tone. Setsuo was quick to put his hair in a ponytail, grab a book on the Battle of Sekigahara and the Art of War before walking out the door to go read under a shady tree, declining on Chinatsu's offer of taste-testing the food she was making.

* * *

_Fingertips slid along her skin softly, gently tracing her-_

"-on't know why you're even bothering trying-" The noise caught her ear, as did shouting, and she burrowed deeper into the sheets to escape the noise.

_Hot breath on her throat, teasing nipping at her neck-_

"-ot my fault you suck at cooki-" Another murmur dragging her back to reality; she desperately clung to the palest silver threads that the sweet dream was composed of, trying to fall back into her lovely dream.

_"You still think you can get away from me?" Someone was speaking against her chest, before they planted hot, open-mouth kisses on her collarbone-_

"-ho's makin' that noise? Sounds like somebody's getting fuc-" A snippet of speech that was loud, but quickly faded away into the background as she settled back into her dream, unconsciously gripping the sheets so tightly that her knuckles whitened.

_"Adorable. But still naive." A smooth voice in her ear, before a hand caught her wrists and pinned them above her head, another hand flattening against her stomach and sliding upwards to close around her jaw. Hot breath against her lips, hovering-_

"Ma?"

The single word snapped her awake, and Amaterasu shot up with a hand clasped over her heart. Her breathing was heavy, her face was flushed, and her clothes felt entirely too hot to be comfortable. She looked at the people in the room, ignoring the horrible spinning that the room was doing right now. Isamu and Kenshin were sitting on either side of the tub of cold water, shirtless, and splashing cold water on themselves now and then to keep cool. Both their heads were soaked. Kenshin and Isamu were both staring at Amaterasu, and it had been Kenshin that had spoken. Chinatsu had bowls of some dark broth-like liquid with chunks of something or other floating in it, sitting on the table. A large spoon of it was being offered to Gendo, who was refusing steadfastly.

"Mm?" Amaterasu could only manage that, not trusting herself to speak and say something she would later regret. They were all staring now.

"Are you...alright?" Chinatsu asked with confusion, and Amaterasu nodded quickly.

Bad decision.

Instantly Amaterasu was sent crawling out the back door, avoiding a pile of vomit, and beginning to add her own. Horrible, horrible, it felt like the lining of her stomach was coming out. When she was done, Amaterasu crawled over to a sunny spot and curled up there, wanting to die at that exact moment. It wasn't just that her insides were on fire, it was deep, hot guilt in her chest. She hadn't had a dream like...**that**...in a long time. Urges like those had disappeared a very long time ago, she had thought. Even worse, she knew exactly who the man had been in that steamy dream. Of course it was him.

"Ma, you alright?" Isamu called, and Amaterasu nodded where he could see it. She was on her knees now, looking over to those within the shack and meeting nobody's eyes.

"'M fine." She staggered inside, falling to the tub and dipping her head in it as well. She pulled her head out and shook it to throw off extra water, before moving to the table and sitting on her cushion, closing her eyes tightly and feeling the world spin off its axis as soon as she did.

The rest of the day passed slowly, Amaterasu seeing the things that Chinatsu had cooked and ignoring how many ingredients were lost at her attempt, not feeling like doing anything about it. They all (the adults, anyway) recovered from their hangovers, Amaterasu being out of commission for most of the day with her own massive hangover, which left Chinatsu in charge of everything (she just started doing housework and didn't let anybody else tell her not to). Eiji, Fujiko and Setsuo returned after it seemed to get cloudy, all moving quietly around Amaterasu so as not to accidentally be too loud and get snapped at. Chinatsu's stew of things unknown was surprisingly edible, since Setsuo was the only one with the resolve to actually try it (he only did it to keep Chinatsu from getting her feelings hurt), and then told them all of it.

"Huh. It's actually not poisonous. Go figure." Isamu mumbled, before getting whacked in the head with a wooden spoon.

"Don't be a jackass, Isamu!" Chinatsu snapped at him, as Eiji heard someone at the door. Everyone stopped, looking at one another curiously. Nobody ever came out to the house; it was in the middle of nowhere. Amaterasu, after spending the entire day lazing around in a foul mood, stood and ambled her way to the thick cloth hanging down to separate the inside of the shack from the outside, lifting it and staring with the most deadpan of expressions.

All those in the shack saw was flashes of black material from over her shoulder, Amaterasu tensing up considerably, and her voice growing uncharacteristically hard and hoarse.

"What is it that you want." She barked, Isamu and Gendo already heading up to see who it was, Kenshin trailing behind them. They very barely saw who it was, not recognizing the man at first. It was a tall man in expensive looking clothing, immaculately groomed and looking very, very confident. His short black hair hung to frame his face in a way that served to focus any onlooker's sight directly at his bright blue eyes. And he was smiling, looking entirely too suave for his own good. Behind him were three men, two bulky walls of flesh and one lanky blond man hanging back, looking disinterested with the entire situation. All three had swords, though they didn't look like shinigami. Probably had them forged with normal steel.

The noble in front smiled charmingly at Amaterasu, keeping his hands folded in his luxurious kimono. "My my, Lady Tachibana, you seem so very angry with the sight of me." He reached forward, to brush hair out of her face. "Any particular reason?"

"I have a hangover and I'm also looking at your face." She spoke in annoyed monotone, dodging his hand easily. Isamu and Gendo moved closer behind her, but the veil of cloth hid those in the home from the outsider's view, and a wave of her hand behind her back showed that Amaterasu wanted them to hide themselves. The three men nodded, concealing themselves from sight through the windows. Chinatsu stayed out in the main room of the shack with Eiji, Setsuo and Fujiko. Setsuo hadn't even stopped eating Chinatsu's mystery stew. The nobleman seemed only momentarily taken aback at her rebuke, before smiling casually and shrugging it off.

"Well, that's not the reason I'm here."

"I'm not marrying you. You know I'll never marry, because I've told you just like I've told all the others." Amaterasu stated in dead monotone, careful not to remove her gaze from the four men before her, not even for a second.

"Things change with certain situations, Lady Tachibana. I thought you may have-"

"I haven't. You seem not to know the meaning of the statement "staying away from men forevermore". I'll tell you then. It's when I find absolutely no interest in any man at all, and will never marry one of them. I can raise children on my own, in a little home like this, perfectly happy." Amaterasu narrated, crossing her arms over her chest. One may not have noticed how angry she was if they weren't seeing how she was digging her fingers into her arms. The young man laughed, airily, his glossy blue eyes focusing on Amaterasu's face even sharper than usual.

"This man must have been without compare if the loss of him permitted you to forever waste yourself like this."

"You assume that losing him made me choose this path. Having him was enough to do it, Isao Fujimoto."

"I could treat you so much better. Luxury like you've never even imagined..."

"I've had a taste of luxury. I didn't find it palatable."

The exchange was rapid-fire; every advancement Isao made, Amaterasu countered swiftly. She wasn't impressed, and he knew that he still wasn't getting anywhere. With a slight sigh, he shrugged his shoulders again and closed his eyes with a sly smile.

"I came to give you one last chance. You would really be much better off marrying me, you know. You could have your own children, with me, not taking in grubby, filthy little Rukongai street rats out of the kindness of your soft woman's heart. My home is in a much higher sector, the third. Much safer. Much nicer than this hellhole of a place. And it wouldn't be hard for me to arrange orphanages to take those young kids you're being forced to care for right now-"

It was all Isao got out before he was struck across the face. It wasn't a slap; she Amaterasu hadn't even punched him out. She had closed her hand into a fist and swung the back of her hand at his smug face, striking him with her knuckles accordingly.

"Now really Isao, what sort of woman do you take me for?" Her voice was even, and yet it quivered so slightly on the occasional word as Fujimoto turned his head back from where it had snapped to the left with the force of her blow, his blue eyes remaining serene, but not kind. Amaterasu went on, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"I've lived the wild life, I've known what it feels like to have fire in your blood; a pleasant, maddening burn that makes you do impulsive things. Stupid, stupid things. I've been at the feet of God, and I've slept in gutters with nobody to keep me company but the roaches. And here, I've found something that I think is worth keeping exactly the way it is. Now tell me, spoilt little noble boy, what could you possibly give me that I haven't had already? Something that I really want?" She spoke quietly, with power in her voice, before straightening up and turning around.

"I've been drunk off passion, and it leaves a trace. I've let a man infect my blood and bring me to my knees because of it, and I've bled all that blood away. I want nothing to do with you, with your bodyguards, or with any other man that seeks to give chase. Get out of my sight."

She moved to head back inside, before feeling a hand on her shoulder.

"Quite a riveting speech. I thought you may react in this manner yet again, and so I came prepared. If your life here and the lives of your pathetic family is all that roots you to this spot, then I'll simply get rid of them for you." Isao muttered, as the bulky bodyguards headed towards the window with swords drawn. The lanky man hung back, still watching apathetically. Amaterasu didn't move as they did, didn't move to stop them as they peered in the windows and only saw a young woman with three children hanging around her, one that was still eating and giving them no attention at all. Fujimoto pulled Amaterasu back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning his head on her shoulder.

"How easily you give it all up. Maybe you were just waiting for me to get rid of all this for you."

It was then that he saw her smirking slightly, looking up as the rays of the setting sun light everything ablaze.

"Not at all, Isao. I'm waiting for something else entirely."

The two bulky guards, who had crawled in the windows and advanced on those inside, suddenly flew out of the same windows and skidded in the dirt on either side of the group in the doorway. The lanky blond man looked only slightly interested now, but it was still pure apathy in his manner. Isao, however, was looking around alarmed at what was happening.

"What the hell is happening??" He snapped with anxiety in his voice, before hearing a harsh laugh.

"Hell's knocking, pretty boy."

Isamu leaned out the window, sword over his shoulder and drawn, half-grinning with a manic look about him. Gendo was holding his own sword much more traditionally, stepping out the window casually as Isamu launched himself out it.

"Wh...who the hell are you two?" Isao growled, and Amaterasu chuckled.

"These are my grubby, filthy little Rukongai rats. Only, these two are all grown up."

"'Yer missing one, ma!" A loud voice bellowed from the roof, and Amaterasu sighed as a sword whizzed past her head, impaling itself into Isao's shoulder. He shrieked in pain, letting go of Amaterasu and staggering back. She closed her hand around the hilt of the blade, feeling no friendly hum from the steel and secretly being thankful for that. Kenshin's sword, normal steel.

"Showtime."

She dragged the sword (and Isao) forward and towards her again, slamming her head back into his face and jerking her sword free.

And then all Hell broke loose.

Chinatsu, Eiji and Fujiko were staring through the window at the huge fight out front. Setsuo wasn't interested, only kept eating and reading his copy of The Art of War. Meanwhile, Isamu was clashing swords with a big, beefy bodyguard and it was hard to tell if he was fighting or if he was dancing. Either way, he was grinning and having the time of his life while throwing in showy spins, blocking sword strikes with his geta (the bodyguard wasn't that good with his sword, apparently, because a flat geta bottom could stop his strike) and kicking them away, spitting insults the entire time with a maniacal grin. Gendo was reserved, calm, and quick as lightning, finding holes in his opponent's guard and taking advantage of them with quick slashes meant to wear down the opponent until he could finish it in one fell stroke.

Kenshin landed on the ground, bending his legs as he landed so as not to cripple himself and not be able to do a thing in the fight, seeing Amaterasu shove Isao back and stare at him. She tossed the sword, seeing him catch it easily and level it on his shoulder.

"You want to crack his skull, you go ahead and have your fun. Your old woman of a mother is feeling a little...peaked." Amaterasu sighed, wiping Isao's blood off onto her kimono and sighing. Kenshin shrugged, grinning, and advanced on Isao. It was only then that Amaterasu noted that the lanky blond man was gone, and panic shot through her like lightning. He was gone, and that was never good. She'd lost sight of him when Isao had pulled his little trick, and now he was gone.

"Ha, you think these little bitch guards of yours are any trouble to us??" Isamu roared, his sword square through his opponent's chest. With one foot, he pressed it flat against the man's chest and pushed, throwing the body from the blade before flicking said blade and casting blood to the ground. Gendo was silent as the grave as he slashed the man across the throat, ignoring the geyser of hot blood flashing across his front as the man collapsed. He threw blood off the blade as Isamu had done, now watching as Kenshin slashed Isao across his face, shallow enough not to kill him, but enough to permanently scar him up. He knocked Isao down to the ground, putting a foot on his chest and smirking.

"Bad idea threatening us, Fuji-whatever. We're like cockroaches; we're a hard group to ki-" He grinned while speaking, cut off suddenly as Isamu shouted, spotting something Kenshin didn't. A weight hit him, knocking him back into a stagger in the opposite direction. Regaining his balance soon, Kenshin whirled around to see a blond man smiling quite pleasantly, his blade drawn and having sliced in a way and with sufficient force that if it had connected, it would undoubtedly have killed him. There would have been a possible beheading have happened there.

"Well," The blond man began, his eyes bright behind his vaguely impressed tone as they followed the blood now beginning to run down the naked blade, "I wasn't expecting that. Very fast."

"Thanks." Amaterasu muttered between gritted teeth, feeling the steel pressing hard along the deep gash going from elbow to wrist on her left arm. He jerked his sword free as she jumped back, holding her injured arm close to her body as Kenshin was at her side instantly.

"Ma, what happened?? I...I should've seen-"

"No, Kenshin." Amaterasu cut him off, staring at the blond swordsman intensely as he examined the blood on his blade with slight interest, before casually licking it off. "He's fast. He's damn fast. And people don't get that fast on their own." Her eyes narrowed slightly at the blond man, nobody noticing Isao crawling away with a hand over his face. The swordsman shrugged lazily, the blade of his sword now partially clean.

"You caught me. Now that's very interesting; I've never met a housewife that can track a shunpo. I've met even less that can successfully stop an attack using one of their own."

"Shinigami." Isamu spat, Gendo muttering the word under his breath while adjusting his stance. Kenshin, however, was staring at Amaterasu.

"One of your own? What's he talking about...Ma?"

"Not shunpo." She cut him off, staring at the swordsman. "I just paid attention to you not skulking around like a weasel waiting to take a bite of the hens when it thinks the rooster isn't looking."

"Quite a metaphor. But it's quite flawed, actually; you look more of a hen than a rooster, ma'am." The man smiled casually, and the way he did it ignited rancor in her eyes. So casual, so kind and calm, like there was nothing in the world that he cared about. She hated it.

"Who says I'm the rooster? Honey, I'm the mutt that's guarding the goddamn farm."

With that exchange, Kenshin watched as the man disappeared in the blink of an eye. Next thing he knew, Amaterasu shoved him to the ground and then rolled out of the way herself, kicking up at the blond man and knocking him back only a few steps. This guy looked absolutely thrilled.

"Good, good! So it wasn't just some sort of lucky break; it's good to see that I've finally met somebody in Rukongai not in a shihakusho that can follow my moves. I was starting to get...well, a little bit bored." The man mumbled, laughing to himself. Isamu was already advancing like a bull, Gendo sliding around to the man's flank as Amaterasu rose quickly, her arm held against her chest.

"Ah ah ah, I don't think so. Lord Isao, my current employer, likes to play dirty, you see." The man narrated airily, pointing at Isamu. He felt the muscles in his limbs seize painfully, tightening up until they wouldn't move. Gendo fell to a knee next, fighting to stay on his feet as he watched. Kenshin fell last, using his sword to support himself as he watched helplessly.

"Drugged." Amaterasu muttered, waiting for the effect to come to her.

It didn't.

As she remained on her feet, unaffected, the man blinked and then scratched his head.

"Well that's weird. That chemical should've left anybody who drank it completely immobile. That H...the flowery alcohol that you can set on fire, that's what we put it in a little while back. Never liked that sneaky method, takes all the fun out of the job, but looks like Isao was expecting trouble. He just wasn't expecting as much as he got." He mumbled, as Amaterasu looked to her sons quickly.

"Oh, don't worry. They're alive, and it'll wear off in an hour or so. But, the chemical should've crippled you too, I bet. That's why you look like that. Well, I can only guess that something in your reishi canceled it out. Lucky lucky you; I get an opponent, and you can die on your feet!" His voice advanced a couple octaves in pleasure at the idea, as he set the sword straight and advanced slowly.

"M..a..." Kenshin choked out, as Amaterasu backed up slowly, hunting for a weapon that could take a Zanpakuto. Isamu and Gendo's blade would reject her if she touched them and she would die. Kenshin's was plain steel; it would break and she would die. The bodyguards were plain steel as well; those would break and she would die.

"Hurry honey, I'm getting impatient." The cheery swordsman called, though there was a threat in his joyful tone.

Amaterasu wasn't panicking; not at all. Panic was not in her nature. She was a serene creature by nature, content with silence and stillness. But this was bubbling up ancient feelings, sensations of fear and panic and the rush of fighting and adrenaline that were starting to affect her as much as the blood loss from her red-coated left arm was. Thoughts ran through her mind in a steady, incoherent stream. Death. The children. The smiling swordsman and his blade, both advancing too quickly for comfort. The biting pain in her left arm. That near-painful thudding in her chest that pounded in her ears-her deafening pulse. A humming that she was getting more than annoyed with hearing.

"Mother!"

Amaterasu's head snapped back to the window, seeing Setsuo leaning out of it. The blond swordsman was already zigzagging towards her, she could hear his approach from the crunching of the grass under his geta.

"Setsu-" Amaterasu began, reaching for him. She looked back at the blond swordsman, feeling something in the palm of her outstretched hand and instinctively closing her fingers around it. That annoying humming became a frenzied buzzing, like a storm of wasps circling around her head, and she turned to see Setsuo shoving into her hand an old sword that had been sitting in the corner for a very long time. Things slowed down, before speeding up past where she could think about her reactions and just went with those automatic reactions. Everything past then was a flurry of motion, automatic reactions that shouldn't be happening as they did. And before Amaterasu, before anyone knew it, a flurry of blows from the blond yojimbo of Isao's were being parried by the sheathe of the old, brittle-looking sword. She shoved, pushed him back and got room between them and the three immobile men on the yard.

"Well, that's quite impressive. You're moving very fast now, and it's very fun to play around with you." The blond man complimented, Amaterasu huffing and betraying her exhaustion. The remnants of that horrific hangover were being pushed back by the rush of adrenaline, the fight-or-flight response not allowing the painful thudding headache to be noticed. He shrugged, before dashing forward.

"I do need to finish this soon, though. That spoiled little noble boy will be wondering where his yojimbo is."

Steel bit into her shoulder, a deep slash that sent Amaterasu staggering backwards. She didn't shout, only muffled a shriek of pain with gritted teeth. The sword in her hands was vibrating beneath her fingertips, urging, calling her. Telling her. Ordering. She was ignoring it for the moment. The blond sighed, his long ponytail hanging limp behind him and swaying gently as he shook his head in disappointment.

"I was sort of looking for more fight from you, for all that lip service to Isao. Oh well," He shrugged overdramatically, as if it really were a shame, "I guess I'll just kill everybody here and be on my jolly way." He turned, ignoring Amaterasu now and was gone in an instant, heading towards the house.

"Which one should I do first?" He mumbled, deliberating with himself, before seeing Setsuo leaning out the window and in a flash, grabbed him and jerked him out.

"Mm...nah." He tossed Setsuo over towards Kenshin, shunpoing inside the house. A moment later, Eiji was flung out the window by his ponytail, though the man gave Eiji a compliment on his good taste in hairstyle, before Chinatsu was very politely dropped to the ground in her paralysis.

"Found one!" He chirped, pleased with himself, while dragging out a kicking and screaming Fujiko.

"Anyway, I'll start from youngest to oldest. Isao'd be happy with that, I bet." The blade of his sword pressed against Fujiko's neck, and very easily kicked a charging Eiji a good five or six feet, before dropping Fujiko and slicing downwards, through her small neck.

Well, he would have, if a metallic clang hadn't rung out and stopped his blade inches from Fujiko.

"Hm?" He mumbled, looking up at the heavily bleeding Amaterasu. That wound should've left her unable to move, and here she was, wielding that toy of a sword. It was brittle and-

"Shine." Amaterasu spoke quietly, yet powerfully. The man raised his eyebrows, before recognizing the feeling that the air was thickening around them.

"Don't tell me-" He began, before she shouted the next word, raising eyes holding nothing but pure fury to meet his.

"Kyokkou!!"

The man jumped back, aided by the concussive force of the reiatsu blast, and watched her carefully. A Guan Dao spun through the air like an oversized, bladed baton, before snapping into position. Amaterasu stared, her eyes hard as granite, before twisting her neck slightly and hearing the loud snaps.

"I should thank you, I suppose," She began, stretching out her arms and legs while ignoring her heavily bleeding shoulder and sliced up left arm. "I haven't been able to do that in a very long time. A very, very long time."

The yojimbo's shocked expression turned into a gleeful sneer.

"Oh, I see!" He chirped, as Amaterasu ignored the burning stares from her entire family. She was giving up a dark secret that, without Isao's intervention, would have stayed secret awhile longer. She'd have to strangle him with her bare hands later. She caught Kenshin staring blankly out of the corner of her eye, but never looked away from the yojimbo.

"I know what you are. And that just explains it all, doesn't it?" He cheered, very pleased with the new turn of events. Amaterasu raised a brow.

"Explains it all? I suppose it would, if I knew what you needed explaining."

"Well, that tangible buzzing feel in the air. I never would've guessed it was reiatsu. They sealed yours, didn't they?"

"They did."

"Of course they did. Standard procedure for exiled shinigami."

There were more than a few sharp inhalations from the various other people in the small grassy area in front of the shack. Amaterasu's hand tightened around Kyokkou's hilt visibly.

"Yes, standard procedure. I wouldn't expect mercy from _shinigami_, after all." She nearly hissed, though her face remained serene, emotionless. The yojimbo laughed.

"Sounds like you had a bad experience with them. Then again, having all your shinigami powers sealed away, losing your reiatsu, and **supposedly** having your Zanpakuto destroyed would make anyone bitter, wouldn't it?" The yojimbo was laughing now, his body totally relaxed but his hand still tight on the hilt of his own Zanpakuto. Amaterasu had already begun to twirl Kyokkou in her hand, building up momentum.

"Attempting to kill my children makes me even more bitter, sir yojimbo." Amaterasu spoke loud enough for him to hear, and he laughed while flourishing his own Zanpakuto.

"I guess we can't be friends then? That's a shame. Well, if you're releasing your Zanpakuto, I'll go ahead and do the same with mine to make things fair. This is going to be so much fun..."

He held the sword in front of him, both hands on the blade.

"Cut, Kumatsune." He smirked, and Amaterasu sighed at seeing the blade split into two hand blades, each with three one foot long claws connected to a metal cylinder that Amaterasu recognized as a grip. Of course it was something small; the man was naturally speedy, and something as big as Kyokkou would only slow him down. Amaterasu watched the blades sink into the cylinder he was gripping. Oh wonderful, they were adjustable.

"Ready?" He asked, noticeably pleased.

"No. We're taking it further out." She responded curtly, looking to Fujiko and the rest of her kids before turning, shunpoing forward. It felt amazing all over again, like she was propelling herself through water at impossible speeds. She, of course, noticed the yojimbo keeping up with her. As soon as she felt they were far enough (out of sight, at least), she stopped and so did he.

"Your name?" She asked him, dismissively, and he laughed.

"They call me Masashi."

"My name is Amaterasu. Amaterasu Tachibana."

"Pleasure. Let's go." He laughed, before he disappeared. Amaterasu immediately snapped Kyokkou behind her back, hearing a distinctive clang. Even as that was parried, she twisted the blade and caught the second blow aimed for her kidneys. Her reiatsu was freed from the bind that the shinigami did when they sealed her powers; it hummed across her skin in a manner that she wasn't familiar with anymore, one that she'd been immune to for years upon years. And now, it was a maddening sensation that drove her further into a frenzy that she would've have survived without. The attacks came fast, too fast, and the blades of his Zanpakuto sliced through her flimsy kimono in places and stained it further with blood. Masashi's claws sliced through her flesh like butter, as Kyokkou landed heavier blows whenever it could, which wasn't often. They weren't wearing down though, neither one of them. For Masashi, it was because he was having fun. Amaterasu, however, was drunk off the power. Decades of being locked in a normal, powerless body, and having it all again was intoxicating. She didn't even feel when he cut one of her Achilles tendons, though she noticed that she could put no weight on it without her leg collapsing. So, she just put her weight on the other leg and kept right on going.

It didn't take forever for Amaterasu to notice that she wasn't winning anymore.

On the fly she switched to a new tactic, about to put it into action when voices caught her attention. She turned her head to see Kenshin, Isamu and Gendo rushing to her with swords drawn, their bodies noticeably stiff. At the momentary distraction, Masashi dug his Kumatsune claws in a quick jerk, clawing right down Amaterasu's front. She stared blankly, in surprise, at the three men now staring back in blank shock as Amaterasu fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Well, that was so goddamn fun, I don't even know what to say." Masashi mumbled, feeling the sting of wounds and his own blood on his skin and it felt exhilarating. He quickly glanced over at Kenshin, Isamu and Gendo lazily while gesturing to Amaterasu on the ground.

"She fought to the end, so don't blame her. Anyway, I might as well finish you three as well, but there's no real hurry." He began to stride confidently towards the three, preparing his Kumatsune to strike, smiling in a satisfied sort of way.

"Now..." He started, before he was cut off suddenly.

_"Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!"_ He heard a shout behind him, and, only barely recognizing the Bakudo, stared at a heavily sweating Amaterasu whose hands shook slightly, possibly from exhaustion or even from fear of the Kido. Her voice didn't waver, and Masashi raised his Kumatsune.

"No!" He shouted, before she finished the incantation.

_"Bakudo number sixty one: Rikujōkōrō!!"_

Six thin, wide beams of light slammed into Masashi's midsection, pinning him in place. He couldn't believe it. An exiled shinigami who hadn't done anything with her reiatsu in god knows how many years had just pulled off a Bakudo that caught him perfectly. Amaterasu moved to her feet, using Kyokkou as a crutch for her useless foot.

"Eighth Company, Fifth seat." She said clearly, meeting Masashi's eyes and seeing recognition. He couldn't speak; the Bakudo allowed absolutely no movement at all.

"Isamu, Gendo, Kenshin. Step back." She ordered, and it wasn't in a mother's voice. It was in a booming, commanding voice that made them hesitate. She met eyes with them, shouting again.

"Now!!"

They all staggered back a few steps, watching with mute surprise. Masashi could do nothing but watch, as Amaterasu closed her eyes.

"I hated Kido. Hated it. I'm terrified of using it." She flipped her hair over her shoulder, holding her hand out.

"But I'm damn good at it. How do you think I got my position? It wasn't for drive, or capability with my Zanpakuto. They wanted me in Fifth, but I knew that'd mean I'd be doing Kido all the time, and I refused. But I only showed very good control of it, never did anything like this for them. I've never gone above forty, other than when I was alone and far from anyone that could see me, I don't think." She narrated, now focusing on the pinned Masashi, his Zanpakuto claws hanging limp, the tips of the blades barely scraping the dirt. Amaterasu already knew she was pushing her limit with pulling a level sixty Bakudo as the first Kido she'd done in damn near a century, not to mention a second and much more important reason why she should stop, but Fujiko's near death flashed before her eyes again and she gritted her teeth, said 'fuck it', and decided she was going to wipe this man from existence.

_"Hado number eighty-eight: Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!!"_ Amaterasu roared, very much forgetting the fact that such a powerful Hado could attract unwanted attention. She felt the blast leave her fingertips, and as soon as it did, lost her breath and fell to the ground. She did see it hit the target though, before hearing pure silence. Then, voices telling her they needed to fix her up, and hands beginning to help her towards home. She wasn't conscious much longer than that.


	5. Mirror, Flower, Water, Moon

Smothering, thick darkness. And the all-too-familiar smell of antiseptic.

Her eyes opened slowly, agonizingly slowly, and saw the familiar ceiling. Reliable old shack ceiling. Funny, she'd had the craziest dream that Isao had brought a psychopath to force her into marriage, and that psychopath had nearly killed everybody because he felt like it. And after that, she'd broken the seal on her reiatsu and other shinigami powers, released Kyokkou again, and then pulled out Hado that she would in absolutely no way be able to manage without breaking her hands and burning the flesh off her palms. Crazy drunken dreams of hers. Well, she was sure sore from that night of drinking. And her hands hurt her something awful. Maybe she had slept on them or something.

Wait.

Her eyes were barely cracked, and she lifted her hands up with much effort (it felt like weights were tied to her arms and holding them down) and held them in front of her face. Bandages. A lot of them. Her ankle hurt too, almost as if the tendon had been sliced by some psychopath's Zanpakuto claws. And there was still that scent of antiseptic.

Aw fuck.

"Hurm." It was Amaterasu's thinking noise, and it attracted the attention of other people. Kenshin leaned into her very small field of vision, looking down with worry in his eyes.

"Ma?? She's awake, you guys!" He called out to the others in the room, and Fujiko, Eiji and Setsuo were in her field of vision in an instant. She glanced at each of them, looking worried, and then over to Chinatsu hanging back and watching. Using her wrist, she tugged down bandages criss-crossing over her mouth (someone had wrapped them clumsily) and spoke in a brittle, hoarse voice.

"Really happened? All of it?"

The question seemed to confuse them for a moment, before Kenshin nodded slowly.

"Y...yeah, it all happened."

At that answer, Amaterasu dropped her hands and groaned in defeat.

* * *

The next few weeks were absolute hell for Amaterasu.

She was forced to sit and watch as others had to do the housework she normally did. And, despite knowing she was sounding like a cantankerous old woman, they were doing it _wrong_.

"Oh, oh no!" Chinatsu jumped as a small fire started in the pot of stew she was trying to make, and she quickly threw a handful of flour on it to smother it. In dismay, she watched the flour soak in and make the mixture thick and sludgey. She blinked, before groaning in defeat.

"Something wrong?" Amaterasu asked from her spot sitting up on her futon, bandaged hands in her lap. She had been correct in her assumption; that Kido had broken every bone in both her hands and seared off the flesh on her palms as well. She had done most of the medical treatment herself, and what she couldn't do, she directed other people in doing, such as painting the bandages with medicinal salve to help the burns and wrapping her hands up. She had set the broken bones herself, and wouldn't allow anyone else to touch her. She wouldn't tell anyone else in the house so as not to worry them, but that ripped tendon in her left foot wasn't going to heal on its own, and neither was the flesh on her palms. The only thing that would fix injuries like those would be healing Kido, and there was only one place to find people who could do that, and she wasn't going. Period.

Chinatsu jumped, before looking back to Amaterasu with a strained smile.

"N-no, of course not miss Tachibana! Everything's A-OK!!" She gave a thumbs-up, before the mixture crackled loudly and she returned to fussing with it. Everyone in the house was pitching in to help her out, doing all her housework and leaving her just to sleep and then watch. It was driving her absolutely mad. She wanted to do something, anything at all. Not to mention the enormous elephant sitting in the corner of the room, glaring at everyone. Namely, the little revelation of a part of Amaterasu's past that struck everyone as totally unexpected. Amaterasu_** hated**_ shinigami with a fiery passion; she told her children over and over again that they were all selfish monsters that only looked out for themselves and would trample a comrade just to get a few inches higher on the Seireitei totem pole, and to never ever trust one. And they hadn't, mainly because Amaterasu had their home so far out in the boondocks that nobody, save Isao and other vermin, ever came to see them.

So hearing that she used to be one was...a surprise, to use a massive understatement.

Nobody spoke about it, though, and Amaterasu knew that they were thinking along the lines of, _'She didn't tell us that. What else could she not be telling us?'_.

A lot of things, actually. But there were parts of her past that she would never allow revealed, for absolutely no reason. Like her jaunt-slash-kidnapping-slash-imprisonment at Hueco Mundo around a century ago, for one. Or her old name, because if they knew her old name, then they would be able to learn about exactly what she was trying to hide.

Thinking about this, Amaterasu laid her head on her forearms (she couldn't put it in her hands, of course) and sighed exhaustively.

_'Not that I even remember.'_

"Hey, what's that?" Kenshin asked nobody in particular, as he attempted (emphasis on _attempted_) to fold clothes correctly and in Amaterasu's practiced, neat method. Isamu raised his head from his spot sitting cross-legged next to the tub of dish water, washing dishes, and blinked. His eyes widened for a split second, before he was on his feet and grabbing his Zanpakuto at the same time as Gendo dropped a pile of wet clothes on the floor and picked his own Zanpakuto up. Kenshin, Eiji, and Fujiko all blinked in confusion, as Setsuo snapped his book shut and raised his eyes to the doorway.

"Fuck, can't believe this shit-" Isamu was muttering, marching towards the door, before the sword leaning in the corner of the room was being lifted gingerly and strapped to a waist haphazardly with bandaged hands. They all looked at Amaterasu, then at her bed across the room, and surmised it was shunpo.

"Ma, you can't-"

"You're in no condition, mother-"

"Jus' sit down and let us handle-"

"Please let them do it, it's safer-"

"Mama-"

They all raised complaints at once, before Amaterasu ignored them and closed her eyes a moment, unused to being able to feel reiatsu again so well. Her eyes snapped open instantly and she looked at all of them alarmed.

"All of you, get back and look inconspicuous, right now!" She tossed Kyokkou to Kenshin, now a flurry of motion flitting from here to there, shoving them all into place.

"Kenshin, hide Kyokkou...yes, the sword, what else could it be that I'm talking about...Fujiko, go sit down, mama's got to handle a rat." She ignored all of them, shoving them where they needed to go, before straightening herself up and heading to the doorway. A slight knocking on the outside of the home sounded before she even got there, and Amaterasu's expression could be seen to have hardened considerably, her movements becoming jerky and enraged as she threw back the cloth-like material serving as a door and glared at the man standing there in full shihakusho, Zanpakuto strapped to his side and staring impassively down at her.

"What a pleasant surprise," Amaterasu spoke in a tone that showed the least amount of pleasure possible, grinding and harsh, "I never expected a visit from one of _you_."

"And why not, after what show was put on here not very long ago?" His tone was cold and emotionless, and he stared down at her without the slightest show of any emotion at all. Amaterasu smirked only very slightly, and it was acidic as she leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Of all the people, they had to send you. Didn't they remember that I hate you?"

"Strong words."

"I do, I really do."

"I don't doubt it."

He glanced aside to the windows and noticed pairs of eyes staring at him in shock and awe, sort of. Others were glaring. A little girl was wide-eyed at seeing him. Not unreasonable for a response. Amaterasu followed his gaze and saw them staring, before snapping at them like a rabid dog.

"Get inside right now!!" She barked in a tone unlike anything they'd heard before, and those eyes disappeared quickly. The woman looked back to the man and ignored the fluttering of a white coat, her eyes narrowing.

"Now what is it that you want, Byakuya Kuchiki?" She growled, and he just stared a moment longer, taking in her heavily bandaged appearance. The bandages around her face were gone, since she didn't need them anyway, and now it was just visible to him as bandages under the collar of her shirt, around her hands, and around her left ankle. His tone as he spoke was cold, sharp.

"Captain Kuchiki, exile."

"I don't follow your rules anymore, _shinigami_. What. Do. You. Want."

They matched one another in hostilities, though it was in a quiet, holier-than-thou sort of way with Byakuya and open hatred with Amaterasu. Kenshin was looking through the window again, ignoring his mother's order, so he could get a look at the Captain. Tall and fair-skinned, with his hair done back with an expensive-looking hair clip, and Kenshin grudgingly noted that he was quite the looker; probably had tons of women after him. And he looked rich; just had that air of nobility about him. Though he was cold and unexpressive, Kenshin didn't really see any reason why his mother was so hostile to the man; he wasn't kind or warm, but he wasn't rude and was in fact very courteous in response to Amaterasu' blatant disrespect. Chinatsu leaned over to peek out the window with Kenshin and the kids; Gendo was watching out the other window, and Isamu was nowhere to be seen.

"A level sixty-five and level eighty-eight Kido were perfomed not far from here two weeks ago, along with a burst of reiatsu that should have never appeared again." Byakuya stated, and Amaterasu leaned against the wall again, smirking.

"You think I planned it? A rogue shinigami tried to kill my entire family, Kuchiki. He nearly beheaded my daughter, for the love of...anyway, now you know what happened and I want you off my land." She crossed her arms, the fake smirk fading away and replaced by a cold, hard stare. Byakuya didn't budge.

"Seireitei will have you there for a review of your Kido abilities-"

"An inquisition, you mean." Amaterasu interrupted him, unfolding her arms. "A witch hunt."

Byakuya didn't respond as she went on.

"I don't work for Seireitei any longer, Kuchiki. I don't serve shinigami** filth**. And," she held her hands up, "I'm not a master of Kido anyway. My hands are broken, if you can't see that, so I won't be doing much of anything for a long time. There's no use 'reviewing my Kido abilities', because I won't be doing any sort of Kido anymore. I gave that up." Amaterasu spat, keeping her hands held up and in perfect view. Byakuya showed no reaction, as he was expected.

"Gave it up? If that were true, I wouldn't be here."

"I quit. That was a necessary, very unplanned usage, and it won't happen again."

"Quit. No one ever quits."

"I did."

They stared off in silence for a moment, before Byakuya, in frustration, decided to take a new tactic.

"It's not a request for you to appear at Seireitei. It's an order." He stated, giving no room for argument. That didn't mean Amaterasu couldn't make her own room. She glared harder, hands down at her sides again.

"An order?! I don't follow Seireitei orders, and I don't worship the ground you shinigami vermin walk upon, either!" She growled, ignoring the pain caused by how tightly she was gripping her kimono cloth, glaring at him.

"We didn't end things with the wish for hostilities-"

"Without the wish of hostilities?!" Amaterasu near screamed, unabashed in showing exactly how angry she was with the shinigami Captain. "Maybe you should have thought about that when you let me hang around for a year like a dumb puppy, feeding you all the information about _his_ operation that I could, before deciding you didn't _need me_ anymore and sealing my fucking powers, taking my Zanpakuto for destruction, and throwing a mute, peniless woman into the streets of fucking Rukongai District Seventy-Nine!!"

Kenshin's eyes widened, as did the eyes of everyone else in the home. Amaterasu had never raised her voice and actually screamed at somebody before, and was the one who scolded others for swearing. Seeing her act like this was a complete shock. Byakuya held his ground, as Amaterasu fumed in place, turning around to leave.

"Kumor-"

"That's not my name!!" She shouted, and Byakuya was feeling his very thin patience wearing down to nothingness. It wasn't as if he weren't expecting some anger and a confrontation, but apparently the shinigami and the circumstances of her discharge from Seireitei service were a very, very sore topic. Amaterasu whirled around to face off with the Captain again, apparently thinking of something else to scream at him about. Byakuya interrupted her, as he was not here to be her punching bag.

"A simple statement. Your Kido abilities are very much above average, though you apparently have hidden such abilities during your time in Seireitei. And," He was watching to make sure that Gendo or Isamu didn't make a move with those zanpakutou of theirs, "Fourth Division would be able and willing to heal your hands so that you could display your Kido prowess. If you do not show, then we will send shinigami to come and get you."

"Fuck you shinigami are taking her anywhere." Isamu was balanced on the roof, zanpakutou on his shoulder. Gendo was out the window, sword at his waist. Amaterasu turned to look at them both with venom in her voice as she spoke.

"Get back inside right now." She spat, and they didn't move.

"Sorry ma, but we'll have to ignore you for just this once." Kenshin was out the other window, and Byakuya didn't look worried in the least. He didn't look anything, really, but he never did.

"My piece is said. And Seireitei is considering enstating a Rukongai-wide draft for those with reiatsu. Your sons may be shinigami in the close future." With a shunpo he was gone, and Amaterasu stormed back in the home.

* * *

The rest of the day was comprised of everyone trying to act like Byakuya's visit never happened, walking on eggshells around Amaterasu. Who was continuing to fume in quiet. The day went by quickly and everyone went to bed, Amaterasu staying up alone. If one were awake, they would have seen her gingerly take her zanpakutou and head outside, walking down along the river to the lake it fed into. The moon was high in the sky as she sat down at the lake's edge, among the flowers laying at water's edge. Kyokkou was laid bare along her lap, and she mused the small white Camellia flowers on the water. She took one up, laying it on her sword and admiring it; the sight reminded her of a lantern, dozens of small white lanterns floating on the water's surface. As her eyes raised to the moon, and down to the reflection of the moon on the water, she knew that she was in his domain now, but it didn't matter. The cool sensation of Kyokkou's blade was disquieting; she wanted to feel him hum in her hands, and she wanted to hear him speak.

_Kyokkou, I wish to speak with you again._

No answer. Of course not. He was angry, she supposed. Possibly, she didn't know his mind, although she probably should. Instead, Amaterasu's stare moved from the Camellia on Kyokkou to her reflection in the water, and for a brief moment, she wanted to drown herself in the silvery moonlight. Amaterasu resisted the urge, but only because of her children; if it had been just her, she knew very well that she would be in the water right now, content with death.

_You're a fool._

Kyokkou's voice flooded her mind, and for a moment, Amaterasu realized that she had been thinking about not wanting to drown herself but at the same time, reaching for the water. Instead, she submerged her hand and was content with breaking the image of the moon's reflection on the water, and feeling the cool water in between her fingers.

_...I know._

Her mental voice was soft, but firm enough to match Kyokkou's austere nature.

_Without my intervention, you would have drowned yourself in that moonlight you're so very fond of._

_...Yes. Yes I would have._

There was a moment of silence here, where neither one spoke. Kyokkou broke it.

_And is this fondness for this lake just that? Or is it something more?_

_Are you insinuating that I've fallen in love with the lake?_

_Maybe I'm insinuating that you've fallen in love with something else._

More silence. The two were beings of silence, serenity, peacefulness.

_My reflection? The Camellia flowers that look so much like white lanterns floating upon the water's surface? The moon's reflection upon the water?_

_Mirror, flower, water, moon. You know what I speak of._

Amaterasu closed her eyes, basking in the moonlight and calmly thinking of a reply.

_Ah, you mean him. Those turbulent days are long past, Kyokkou. And you insinuate that he still desires for me._

_And you're sure that he doesn't?_

_Yes I am._

Kyokkou fell into silence for a good long time, and Amaterasu waited patiently for him to speak again. His voice was a warm comfort, something that put her at peace instantly.

_Do you want him to?_

This time it was Amaterasu that fell into silence, as she sat up straight and kept her eyes closed. She couldn't reach where he was, in her soul, but she could still relish this time that he chose to speak with her.

_...Do you think I should?_

She was staring up at the moon, feeling water dripping from her fingertips upon the Camellia flower on Kyokkou's blade.

_I think that wanting such a thing would be stupid, childish, and dangerous._

A smile broke onto Amaterasu's face at his words.

_So that's a yes then?_

_You act as if we are young. We are not. You and I have lived centuries, and you are starting to age._

_Yes, I know that. They wonder why I call myself an old woman._

_You are not wrong in doing so. In a mere fifty or so years, we will be five hundred, will we not?_

_Oh, so you've been counting?_

_There isn't much else for one to do when sealed away for a century._

Amaterasu was silent for a moment, now seeing the water dripping from her fingertips running down Kyokkou's blade, to the tip. She angled him to where the water would drop onto a flower.

_No...I suppose there isn't. But we've gotten off track. You don't like me being this...stationary, do you?_

_You misunderstand me, and yourself as well. I had thought you would have figured it out in five hundred years' time._

_You overestimate me._

The crickets began chirping again, settled again after Amaterasu's entrance. The chirping served to both enhance and destroy the quiet ambiance of the lake, and Amaterasu waited for them to quiet down again.

_You and I were always serene beings. That is what we were supposed to be. You did not realize this until after the entire fiasco with Seireitei and Aizen._

_I was like a child then. Young, and though not naive, I was firm in the belief that there is good._

_And you have given up the idea that good exists?_

_I have given up the idea that there is good or evil. Morality is subjective. A man that conquers all is the one who writes history for those to come after._

More silence as the crickets stopped their singing.

_You sound like Aizen now._

The woman by the lake ran her finger down Kyokkou's edge, before watching the blood begin to rise from the cut. She held it over the pure white Camellia flower on Kyokkou's blade, watching the pure white color stained with drips of red.

_You can only spend so much time around a person before they begin to infect you._

Kyokkou remained silent, now most likely watching Amaterasu as she scooped up the bloodstained flower and set it off to float along the surface of the water, watching it float off gently.

_You make him sound like a disease._

_Not a disease. A virus._

_And your children? Was it motherly love that propelled you to take them in, or did you care for them in an effort to preserve your humanity?_

The crickets started chirping again, and the bloody little flower floated into the reflection of the moon.

_Would you laugh if I said that it was a bit of both?_

_Not in the least._

Blood was now dripping into the silvery water, and Amaterasu was transfixed upon the drops of red falling into and disappearing in the water. She didn't realize it, but she was holding her breath as well. And as Kyokkou answered, the small white flower with drops of red staining it here and there became bloated with water and submerged, the petals coming apart and dispersing in the reflection of the moon.


	6. Leave

It was barely morning when Amaterasu woke again.

She had come in from her night at the lake and laid down to sleep, Kyokkou leaned against the wall in his corner. And now, she had woken up when she heard rustling. For a moment she thought that someone had gotten up to start their day, but then she saw that it must have been four or five in the morning. So she remained faking sleep, now and then catching sight of somebody moving around. And though she couldn't really see who it was, when she heard noise right next to her, she knew what they were doing.

_Amaterasu!_

Kyokkou snapped at her, and she was on her feet in an instant, grabbing whoever it was and clapping a hand over their mouth. They had their hand around Kyokkou, in the process of taking the sword, and when she saw who it was, Amaterasu was highly confused.

"Kenshin?" She asked in a whisper, before dragging him outside as quietly as possible. When they were out of the house, she pulled Kyokkou out of his hand and stared down at him. "What do you think you're doing, exactly?"

"Ah...well, yeah..." Kenshin mumbled, standing up and brushing himself off a bit. His mother was still waiting.

"Where were you going with my zanpakutou?"

"Oh...well, nowhere really...just...yeah..."

"And 'nowhere really just yeah' is?" Her arms were crossed over her chest, though she was careful not to hit her hands on anything. Kenshin sighed, before sitting down on the ground. Amaterasu sat down a moment later, waiting silently. After a minute of preparing himself, he spoke.

"I...was leaving. For Rukongai." He admitted, and she blinked.

"Leaving? Why?" She asked, confusedly, and Kenshin started.

"I...want to become a shinigami."

The words hit her like a brick, as Kyokkou buzzed in her hand. Kenshin looked completely worried.

"You want...shinigami...what?" Amaterasu mumbled, putting a hand over her eyes. Kenshin had his hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently.

"Ma, it's al...right?" He mumbled, seeing her wiping her eyes. "Are you crying?"

"Why?" She asked suddenly, and it took Kenshin a moment to figure out what she was talking about. When he did comprehend, he looked out at the traces of blue in the sky. The sun hadn't come up yet.

" Because..." He looked past Amaterasu, it seemed, out at something she couldn't comprehend. "Because I want to do something with my life. I don't want to just hang around Rukongai and be poor as dirt like Isamu or Gendo, and I can't bear to just stay here at home all my life and do nothing," Kenshin explained, looking back to her. "I have to do something with my life."

"And...you can't figure out another way? Like, being a blacksmith?" Amaterasu spoke, but there was tearful laughing in her voice. Kenshin began laughing as well, and it wasn't long before she was hugging him and crying and he was doing the same.

* * *

The sun shone overhead, as they stood in the doorway watching.

"Kenshin, where're you going?" Fujiko asked curiously, as he stood out before them with a grin.

"I'm gone off to be a shinigami. Don't make a face like that; ma said that it was alright herself." He laughed, as they looked quickly up to Amaterasu and back to Kenshin.

"How come he gets to go out into the world?" Eiji asked with his arms crossed, and Setsuo ruffled his hair boredly.

"Because you're a kid."

"I'm only a little younger than Kenshin!" Eiji argued, before Amaterasu shushed him. She was watching Kenshin as he came back and hugged them all, Isamu and Gendo standing off with Chinatsu not too far away. Chinatsu came up as well, hugging Amaterasu.

"Thank you miss Tachibana; staying at your house was some of the best time I've ever had." She smiled, and Amaterasu laughed gently.

"Well, come back whenever you'd like; my home is always open." She watched Chinatsu leave, head off with Isamu and Gendo and begin arguing with/at them. Isamu rolled his eyes, ignoring her. Kenshin patted Amaterasu on the shoulder, hugging her again.

"Don't worry so much, ma; I'll be fine! And thanks for telling me all about Seireitei; it'll help me later on. See ya!" He laughed, turning away and jogging to catch up with Isamu, Gendo and Chinatsu.

"You think he'll be okay?" Eiji asked curiously, as Amaterasu lead them back inside. She smiled, not sure of that herself, and nodded.

"He'll be fine."

* * *

**((Short chapter, but next we'll actually start moving on! Thanks again, guys.))**


	7. Gone

Amaterasu Tachibana sat at her table in the small but cozy little shack, staring out the window. She was catching herself thinking dazedly about what her family might be doing right now, wherever half of them were. Her hair, dyed red, had grown out long and the colored section had been shorn off; now her hair had grown back blonder than before, very very blond. And even though she was sure this morning was no different than any other, something was putting her at unease. A rustling noise; a young woman with long dark hair dropped down to Amaterasu's right side, leaning against the table with her chin on her fist.

"Hey mama, what's wrong?" Fujiko asked her, in a tone that showed disinterest. She had grown older now; was in her teenage years, complete with teenage rebellion intact. She and Amaterasu had shouting matches now and then, usually when Fujiko wanted to go to Rukongai alone. She snuck out sometimes, but she never got too far, since Setsuo was getting privy to her antics and catching her. Amaterasu may have been an old woman that couldn't keep up, but Setsuo, now getting into his twenties, was able to do that for her. He was scholarly now; read most of his time away, spend the other amount of time helping with the house and keeping Fujiko in check.

"Nothing." Amaterasu sighed, her head in her left hand. She was so tired nowadays, almost all the time, and she was finding dealing with a rebellious teenager to be even more tiring. Isamu had been better at sneaking out; she had been completely oblivious to him even leaving, and when she did realize, he was already old enough to go out on his own anyway. Gendo, who had been the inspiration and idol of Setsuo, had been supportive for Amaterasu, if not a bit distant, and easy to manage while he managed Isamu on his own to keep Amaterasu as calm as he could. Kenshin adored Amaterasu, and his wild days waited until he left for Rukongai in his twenties. And Eiji...

Amaterasu stood, walking away from the table and out the door. "I'll be back in a bit," She stated in monotone, walking down to the lone tree that had grown. It wasn't very tall; had been a small tree when the family had last gotten together, and grown in the years since, but it was enough to shade her from the constant sun. She lay on the ground, massaging her wrists absentmindedly. It had been years since she'd regained her powers, and since her hands had healed (on their own, of course), but they had never really lost the tendency to become incredibly sore at times. She didn't know what it was that had happened, but she just guessed that it had been some sort of thing that wasn't going away. Setsuo had said something about arthritis. She closed her eyes, now letting her mind wander.

She was wondering about her children now. Kenshin had left to become a shinigami around eight or nine years ago; after he finished his time in the Academy, he had visited again for a short while before leaving again. She'd nearly cried when he came to visit them while wearing a shihakusho. She _had_ cried when he pulled his zanpakutou out to show them. And everybody had been sort of trying to comfort her, not really knowing how. She'd had to go off on her own and quiet herself down before coming back all normal. And he'd told her that he had been put in Eleventh Company.

She cried again.

Eiji had run off the night Kenshin left to enter the Academy, to enter it as well. Kenshin said he hadn't found Eiji at the Academy, and so Amaterasu theorized that they hadn't let Eiji in, and so he was probably living in Rukongai until he could, or that he may have waited six years so that he could get in when Kenshin was leaving. In any case he was gone, and she was a nervous wreck for a good amount of time after he was gone. And now, Setsuo was the only one remaining with her because he wanted to help take care of her; Fujiko was far from willing to stay, and had grown rather selfish and caring for only herself. Amaterasu sometimes wondered if she'd gone wrong somewhere, maybe she'd unknowingly treated Fujiko more like the baby and spoiled her when she was younger. She had never been so selfish and uncontrollable as a teenager, mainly because she spent her teenage years walking the streets. Of course, she had told none of them about what she'd done before, remained silent about her own history. She'd explained her history as a shinigami, and told them nothing about her foray with Aizen.

Amaterasu coughed, and couldn't stop. She'd been coughing very much lately, for some reason or another, but it was probably a cold or something. She'd had chest colds before. And as Amaterasu rolled over onto her side, she spotted a butterfly fluttering towards her. A large butterfly colored in blacks and purplish tints, something that hearkened back to a thing that Amaterasu couldn't quite remember at the moment. It fluttered over to her before landing on her chest, and she instantly remembered what it was: a Hell Butterfly, one of Seireitei's messenger insects. And she listened to its message, as it fluttered its wings.

"Eleventh Company, subsquad number Three, patrol subdivision, has been captured by the enemy forces. Killed in Action: Sanada Kin, Takahashi Junpei, Kirijo Hatsuo. Missing in Action: Iori Junko, Takahashi Jiro, Tachibana Kenshin. Assumed to be dead. We are sorry for your loss."

The little butterfly fluttered off, oblivious to the woman now laying perfectly still on the grass. Amaterasu stared blankly at the ceiling, comprehending what was just told to her. This Junko or Kin or whoever they were she didn't know and barely heard. Kenshin was captured by Aizen. She sat up, staring very blankly at what was before her with her eyes glazed.

Setsuo and Fujiko rushed out when she started to scream.

* * *

"This isn't happening, it's not, it's..." Amaterasu was pacing in tight circles, wringing her sore hands over and over again until they became so sore that she could barely touch anything without a spasm of pain along with it. She continued though, wringing and twisting and making herself look less like a sane woman every moment and more like some sort of madman, an animal waiting to lash out at anything she could touch. She had told them both in near incoherence, babbling so much that it took Setsuo and Fujiko a few minutes to work it out. Now they were watching her silently, both rocked to the core, though Setsuo remained impassive in appearance. Fujiko wasn't as wild as her mother at this moment, just staring at her hands.

"Mother, you need to calm do-" Setsuo began, before Amaterasu whirled and creeched at him.

"Calm down?! I'm not calming down for shit, Setsuo! Kenshin has been captured! By **Aizen!!** Do you have any idea what they'll _do_ to him?!" This was one of the few times she was acting so completely illogical and unpredictable, and Setsuo drew back for a moment in surprise at being snapped at so violently. "I'll tell you what they'll do to him: They'll lock him up, they'll torture him until he doesn't know his name, and then they'll eat him alive!! And then Kenshin will be a hollow!" She snapped, her eyes wild and her hands now clawed, before she paced around the room talking to herself.

"What does he want, what does he want with him. Is it me? Is he punishing me now, for being so bad?" She was starting to think that it was all her fault, that she was a naughty child being punished for misbehaving. And technically, she probably was. "That's the only explanation for why he didn't just kill him: he wanted me to pay for what I've done." She mumbled, and Setsuo and Fujiko didn't understand what she was talking about. "He wants me to know what it's like to lose something of my own, he wants me to know about wanting to have something important to me back. Though I doubt he thinks what he's lost was important. That's just plain laughable."

"Mother. Mother, mother!!" Setsuo snapped, raising his voice, and she stopped to look at him with wide, troubled eyes. He forcibly sat her down, pulled her hands from one another, and then set to making tea in silence. He returned with a cup of the hot chai, sitting it in front of her and sitting down with her as she began to have a cup of it. She took a sip and began coughing again, hard and so much that she couldn't seem to stop. Setsuo and Fujiko waited until she calmed herself and sipped at her tea again, silent. The rest of the day was reserved for Fujiko and Setsuo to talk behind her back about what to do with her when she was this hysterical. Amaterasu, meanwhile, found herself calmed entirely too much by the tea for it to be without some sort of drug in it. And the two of them had gone to bed as she got up after they were asleep, moving outside to sit by the front door's wall. Her head was in her hands, and she wanted to cry.

"I thought it was all over..." She mumbled, before feeling something creeping over her hand. Amaterasu looked at it, to see that it was another Hell Butterfly.

"Amaterasu. We know what has happened. And we would like to offer you a deal."

She listened.

* * *

Setsuo sat up in bed, looking for his mother to see how his drugged tea had worked to calm her. He and Fujiko were planning on taking her somewhere away from here, putting her away somewhere until she could calm down. Keep her drugged, keep her quiet, keep her calm. He looked around, standing alarmed when he didn't see her, and moved to a note on the table.

_Dear Setsuo_

_I know that you're going to be awake before Fujiko will. So I'll address this to you. I am leaving_

_for the time being, because I can't leave Kenshin to Aizen. I'm going to find him, somehow, no_

_matter what I have to do to get him home. In the meantime, I'll leave this house to you and_

_Fujiko; if you can't handle Fujiko alone, then I have an old friend on the outskirts of Rukon-_

_gai on the outer limits, someone I've met before. Her name is Kuukaku Shiba, and I'll have_

_visited her by the time you wake up to read this. She'll take care of you both, if you so wish,_

_and you can surely trust her._

_Remember that I love all of you. Tell Isamu and Gendo that I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye_

_to them as well, because I know they'd stop me. I'm also sorry I couldn't say goodbye to you_

_and Fujiko, because you would most likely drug my tea again to try and sedate me for good._

_Some of us may grow old, but we don't grow senile._

_I know you'll try and find me, and stop me. I'm sorry, but don't look. Ha, listen to me; I sound_

_like a runaway teenager, or someone leaving a suicide note. Who knows, I might be. If I don't_

_come back, if I die, then remember that I'll never forget about all of you. You children saved my_

_life, and I'm very proud of all of you, no matter how stupid you may act at times. I was stupid_

_at one point too, and I'm going to be stupid again._

_Love, Amaterasu Tachibana_

Setsuo stared at the page for a moment, before setting it down and then sitting down himself. Kyokkou was gone. He knew where she most likely went, and he knew that she probably was going by an alias and that he'd never find her. Fujiko slept quietly, and Setsuo wouldn't wake her up to tell her, not right now. For now, he'd just look out the window and stare at the rising sun.


	8. Shinigami Again

Three hollows surrounded a group of shinigami, two leering Arrancar staring down four shinigami hopelessly outclassed. The three shinigami held their zanpakutou tightly, waiting, watching, as the Arrancar spit and laughed at them.

"Well, look at them," One of them sneered, a woman with long blond hair and steely blue eyes, her hands on her hips with one hovering near her zanpakutou hilt, "Shinigami bastards think they've got a chance." Her companion, a lithe young man with dark brunette hair and vivid green eyes, sighed and crossed his arms.

"They always think they do," He sighed, drawing his zanpakutou in an elegant flourish. The shinigami didn't budge, not really, only waiting for their opponents to make the first move. The woman laughed, barked really, and then lunged at one of the shinigami. All three of them moved at once, two engaging the current Arrancar woman attacking and the third running off to engage the male Arrancar, staring on boredly as she approached.

"You're so stupid. You all are," He muttered, before seeing his female companion slashed deeply through the chest and felled quickly. "What??" He breathed, before parrying an attack from the woman, her zanpakutou already in release form. It met his, clashing with a loud metallic ring, before she did something unexpected, long blond hair clinging to her skin with sweat as she reared back and punched him across the face. Her two shinigami squad mates were already with her, one stabbing him through the chest and the other slicing his head off in one fell stroke. The corpse fell to the ground, limply, as the three shinigami once again re-bound their zanpakutou and sheathed them, breathing heavily.

"Good job," A beefy man told the other two, and the other man on the team nodded.

"Wasn't too hard. They underestimate us," He laughed, and the other man laughed with him. The blond woman, however, was wiping her blade of blood and wiping her face from the splatter of gore as well, not laughing, not showing any expression at all. "Come on," She said in a dull tone of voice, "We need to report back." She walked away, not checking if they were following her or not, and one man looked to the other.

"She always like that?" He asked in hushed tones, and the other nodded.

"Yeah, she's kind of a bitch. Anyway, she's right; let's go back and get a drink or something." The other affirmed, as they followed her back from the real world into the Soul Society, their Hell Butterflies fluttering by their heads as they walked. The trip into Seireitei wasn't very eventful, and the woman broke away from them to go ahead and report as soon as possible to her Captain, walking towards her Division. In her small room, she sat down and reviewed her paperwork, filling it out dutifully, before noticing a small slip of paper on her desk next to the paperwork stack. Reading it over once, her dull green eyes widened a moment before closing, her grip on the paper tightening.

"It's now, of all times," She said, to nobody and to everyone that could hear her.

* * *

"Captain," a blond woman said to the woman sitting behind her desk, watching her with impassive eyes, "I wish to contest this order." A slip of paper fluttered in her hand, lifelessly, as she waved it slightly. They were in the Captain's office of that Division, a modestly-decorated room, with wood furniture and a very cozy, yet classy decoration. A wooden desk separated the blond shinigami and the brunette Captain, her long hair in a bun on her head.

"Officer, I don't think you quite understand. This is a permanent, concrete decision by First Company." Her Captain stated, folding her hands in her lap. The blond woman stared, dumbfounded.

"What?" She asked, not comprehending this, and her Captain seemed to sigh under her breath. She sounded (and looked) very tired. "I am saying," She began, the insignia for Fifth Company emblazoned on the back of her white coat, "That I did not decide this. First Company chose it to be so, and I seriously doubt that you are willing to contest that to them. Possibly me, but not them."

The blond shinigami mulled over this for a moment, her long blond hair hanging at the small of her back. The red dye had grown out over her years, and instead of dirty blond, it had come back a vivid blond. She was glad for that, in some way; nobody would recognize her so easily. She stared down at the order again, blankly. A reassignment that most shinigami were given at one point or another.

_But why now?_

"I...understand." The blond said, her tone slightly dampened but her stance and voice still almost robotic in how they did not betray any emotion, as she bowed at the waist. She turned to go, but stopped at her Captain's voice.

"Kumorigachi, I know what you are feeling," She began, her eyes softening somewhat, "But we all have duties here that cannot go ignored. Your circumstances are special, but by no means are they completely unheard of. Others are in the same situation...somewhat..." She trailed off, the extra circumstances of her subordinate's situation adding extra weight to her words, but to her surprise, the blond laughed.

"Yes, Captain Hinamori, I know." Ichimin chuckled, but there was no humor in her tone, no life. Her eyes were dark and dull, unexpressive. "I understand."

Momo Hinamori knew that she did. She also knew that Ichimin Kumorigachi understood, but didn't _care_. Shinigami hated her for what she'd done and what had happened in her past, and she hated all of them too. She hated their system and she hated their ideas and she hated their attitudes. The badge on her left arm tinkled with a metallic noise as she brushed the doorway, walking out to prepare.

Lieutenant Kumorigachi, the highest position she had ever attained in the Seireitei, and she hated it. Oh well.

* * *

"The human world?"

Ichimin checked her equipment for a third time, ignoring the man leaning in the doorway of her office. She had her Gikongan device (Chappy), her memory replacer...

"Hey, Ichimin, I'm talking to you. You're heading off for a patrol of...Karakura?"

She turned to look back at him, blond hair flying over her shoulder and metallic green eyes focusing on him.

"Yes, Renji. Human world." Her voice is dull, mechanical, and he sighs slightly, annoyed by it. She had been like that ever since she'd come back to work with them as a shinigami again, and it annoyed the piss out of him sometimes. It's not like he spurned her or anything; he had stayed a friend to her, even when she came back mute and fresh from Hueco Mundo. Then they threw her out and she became bitter towards everyone.

"Fine, you don't have to be such a bitch about it, alright?" He stated, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched her put away all her equipment for the fourth time. "I just wanted to know. I _kind of_ care if you're here or not."

She waited a moment, before sighing and putting her head in her hands. "Alright, I'm sorry, Renji," She apologized, her elbows on her desk and her words slightly muffled by her hands. "Just...a little on-edge. I don't need to run off to the human world right now to dance around and axe a hollow or two; I have something to do _here_."

"We know," He stated, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder assuredly. "But if he makes any moves, then we'll let you know. It'd be a hell of a lot easier if you'd just trust us now and then."

She stood, her tools safely put away, and walked away from his touch, towards the door. "It doesn't matter. I know, I sound like a bitch...but you don't know what he does like I do. I know that everything is already planned ahead," She explained, her back to him as she stood at the door. "Aizen's a manipulative bastard. He plans everything ahead, and if that somehow doesn't work, then there are a million plans he can fall back on. I don't trust anybody not to be manipulated either. For all I know, he's just waiting for me to walk into the Living World, so I can walk right into some trap. I'm paranoid like that."

"If there were some sort of trap, it wouldn't have worked anyway. You know who you're staying with, right?" He asked her, walking to the door and turning to face her, now standing in front of her. She nodded, slightly, crossing her arms over her chest with an exasperated sigh between her teeth.

"We don't know if he's going to say yes, but if he's like you describe, then I don't see why he'd say no. And...you're right. I'm just...ugh, I'm so worried, and uptight, and bitchy lately..."

"How long has it been since you went out on a good pub crawl? Kira, Ikkaku, Hisagi and everyone were thinking of going out on some night when everybody had free time."

She smirked, slightly. "And how does the great Captain Kuchiki look upon drinking binges, Renji?" She asked, somewhat playfully, and he groaned.

"That's not important. You're stressed, though, like everyone else. A good night out couldn't hurt anybody." He sighed, and she glanced out the open doorway, shinigami bustling through it.

"Well...I suppose it couldn't hurt. But it'll have to be after I get back. I'm stationed in Karakura Town for a bit, but it'll probably be short since I'm a Lieunenant. They need someone of high ranking protecting that town, since it's so important. Aizen needs it to create the King's Key, anyway." Ichimin walked away, before being caught by the back of her shihakusho and pulled back to face him.

"Hey, be careful, alright? There're already enough of us dying out there as is; we don't need to lose a Lieutenant, either."

Ichimin smirked, in black humor, up at him. "You're pretty focused on the Seireitei cause, aren't you? Wouldn't want to lose a Liuetenant and compromise the force." As soon as he recognized the double meaning of his words, he slapped his forehead and groaned again.

"No, that's...not how I meant it...I meant," He began to walk with her, closing her door behind him, "That we don't need to lose any more friends. God knows we've lost enough good people." His hand was on her shoulder and Ichimin put her smaller hand over his, smiling slightly.

"I have something to do before I die, Lieutenant Abarai. And even if I were to die, I don't think Aizen would want to do it so anticlimactically as some random Arrancar slaughtering me. I'm expecting something painful and generally very nasty." She smiled a moment longer, before pulling his hand off her shoulder and waving goodbye, heading down the opposite hall.

"I'll see you when you get back, alright?" She called, and he nodded, waving slightly as she walked off.

"Alright, and I'm holding you to that pub crawl. And hey, say hey to Kurosaki for me, will you?" He called, and she nodded, before turning around and marching off towards the Senkaimon, a determined expression on her face. She wasn't going to say goodbye to anybody else; she hadn't planned on saying goodbye to anyone at all, until Renji caught her packing. As she made her way to the Senkaimon, Hell Butterfly on her shoulder, she steeled herself for anything to come, and walked through.


	9. Karakura Blues

It's been around a month since she was dropped in Karakura again, to protect it and all the reiatsu-infused freaks of nature that reside there.

Ichimin walks along the sidewalk in her gigai, lazily; she's been staying with Urahara, actually, and he's been helping her fit in with all the people of this era. She hasn't been around since the seventeen hundreds, after all; she has very little idea how to act like these modern humans, even after all the teaching Urahara's been doing.

Right now, unfortunately enough, she's having to wear the current fashionable clothing in Japan. And it's a skimpy pair of hot pants and a shirt tied up so that it covers her breasts and nothing else, and a pair of heeled sandals. People dress like whores nowadays.

Ichimin spends her time patrolling. Obsessively. She's met Ichigo Kurosaki, and he seems pretty nice, if not a bit abrasive and rather bitchy. He has reason to, though, she reasons. His soul did stop aging at a normal human pace when he became a shinigami, and he's been in his teens for these centuries since he was alive. Plus, his friends aren't alive anymore, and so the only company he really keeps anymore is Urahara and the shinigami.

Later that night, Ichimin patrols patiently, flitting through the expanse of the sprawling city that Karakura has become, slaying whatever hollows she encounters (the number of them haunting the streets has grown exponentially since the war with Aizen began), watching for Arrancar that might be waiting to strike down a Lieutenant for the glory.

A very, too familiar reiatsu flickers for a very brief second far to her right, and she lunges, shunpoing rapidly towards it. She knows that it's Arrancar, and she recognizes it to be Ulquiorra Cifer's. When she arrives, seconds, possibly a minute after the initial flicker, he is gone and there is only a folded section of white paper on the roofing. She sweeps it up and hides it in her shihakusho as Kurosaki arrives seconds later, out of breath.

"What, what is it? Where is he?" Ichigo has his hand on his zanpakutou, grip tight, and she closes her eyes a moment and breathes in deeply.

"He's not here anymore."

"You weren't quicker?!" Ichigo snaps, and Ichimin snaps back.

"Why weren't you any quicker, then?!" She snaps, before sighing and rubbing her temples, the paper hidden in her bosom. "Sorry…sorry. Stressed." She mutters, and Kurosaki swears under his breath.

"Yeah? We all are." He breathes, and Ichimin realizes that Ichigo Kurosaki sounds so very old at that moment in time, as if he's a thousand years old and every year has been drenched in war and blood. About a hundred and fifty, two hundred years really have been. She wonders if he misses his childhood.

"Y…yeah. I'm going." She says, shunpoing away. It's those damn mothering instincts again, making her feel for Kurosaki. He's long past grown, actually, though he looks like a kid still, and she has to remind herself of this. The paper in her shihakusho crinkles against her skin and reminds her of her task at hand, and she hurries to the edge of Karakura to viddy her note all by her oddy knocky. Once she's there, she pulls the paper out and begins to read it, hurriedly, and instantly recognizes the elegant handwriting.

_Ichimin,_

_It's been a very long time, hasn't it? I've been missing you, slightly. Gin_

_has too. Your son, Kenshin; he's very loud, abrasive, won't quiet down and_

_just cooperate with us. He'd make a splendid soldier._

_As you probably have assumed by now, I wish to talk business with you._

_Ichimin, I think we should talk in person about things like the release of your_

'_son'. You know where to find me, if you want him back._

_I would suggest you hurry, though. Patience is a virtue, but even gods run out of_

_such things eventually._

_Aizen_

Ichimin drops to the ground, sitting down numbly as she stares at the letter. It's written in blood, and she's pretty sure that it's not Aizen's. Images pass before her eyes; Kenshin, tortured horrifically; missing fingers, missing eyes, missing his tongue; her imagination runs loose and for a moment, he's a corpse. She shakes it out of her mind, closing her eyes and physically shaking her head, before staring at the sky without any idea of what to do.

_Will you save him? _She hears Kyokkou query from the back of her mind, and she just stares at the moon, at a loss. _Will you, Ichimin?_

_He wants me in Hueco Mundo. How will I even arrive there? It's impossible._

_Not impossible, _Kyokkou amends, _merely improbable. There is a mad scientist in his Shoten that has the facilities for it, and you are aware of this._

_He'll never do something so stupid as to let me to Hueco Mundo so that I can talk with a traitor that fancies himself a God. Urahara may be goofy at times, but… _Ichimin trails off here, hiding Aizen's note in her shihakusho again. There's a quiet sigh in her mind.

_So then find another way. Or do you wish to go at all? Will you pretend that you did not receive this letter, will you say that he is as good as dead anyway? I would not blame you or shame you for it. Your shinigami friends would rejoice that you give up on such a suicidal task as a rescue from Sosuke Aizen's clutches. You would not be hailed a traitor and a witch._

_What they think of me is of no importance, Kyokkou. I cannot live with myself if I chose the coward's path._ Ichimin states, mentally. What should she do? Should she, or shouldn't she? She wants nothing less than to go back, willingly even, to Las Noches. But she knows that Kenshin is probably waiting for her. Or maybe not. Maybe he assumes she will stay behind, like any intelligent person would.

Maybe he's dead already. There is no way to be sure.

"It's so…so difficult." Ichimin sighs, despondently, and lays on the roof of the building she's crouched on. She stares at the stars, and wonders about what's out there. It's brief, but it's a moment where she focuses all of her scattered attentions on one exact, mysterious thing. She's heard that they put human beings on the moon. The moon! The thing she's stared at every day of her childhood like some sort of mystical object floating high in the sky, now just another thing that has come and passed. Magic is gone in it; it's just a hunk of rock in the sky, which she always knew it was, but still. It's as if they've defiled a holy place with human touch.

She watches the moon as she lays on her back, eyes growing heavier, until she falls asleep upon that roof.

AAA

**((Alright, I've been burnt out on Bleach for awhile, but I'm back. And it's one AM and I'm tired, and it's been a while since I've written for Coyote, so tell me if I've gone and screwed up. I'm also stuck on present-tense lately, so…yeah. :D))**


	10. Third Party Party

"You have to help me." She says to him, gripping the letter tightly in her fist. She's made her decision, and it's probably going to end in her death. Unfortunately enough, this decision is going to need the assistance of a man that probably doesn't feel the same way.

"No." Urahara tells Ichimin, point-blank, and he tries to walk away and end the conversation. He's seen the letter, knows the handwriting, knows it's legit; he also knows that she's going to try and get him to open up a Gargantua for her, and he knows damn well that he's not going to.

"Don't you tell me no!" She snaps, and it's a voice that reminds him of a vague memory, the sound of a mother's voice snapping. He knows why she wants to go, and he can sympathize, but he won't be her Charon. He's not going to toss her the scissors she can trip herself for and fall on. Urahara continues to walk away from her, and he doesn't flinch when she gives chase and knots her calloused hands in the back of his green coat (even all these years later, he's kept the thing, though this is Coat the Third, since Coat and Coat the Second were both torn to shreds at one point or another and had to be retired) and holds him in place, and when he turns around, expression placid and deadpan, he sees that she's tearing up from either rage or sadness. There's no way to tell which.

"I have to go, Urahara. You _have_ to help me." Ichimin growls at him, through a snarl, and it's not a half-second later that he jerks his coat from her grip and turns around to face her, and when he straightens up completely, he towers over her. She can see his face under the hat, and the pure seriousness of his expression almost scares her. She doesn't let him see this though, and just stares.

"I don't _have_ to do anything, Lieutenant Kumorigachi," Urahara tells her, staring holes through her. "I don't _have_ to help you kill yourself, and I don't _plan_ to. I know you're emotional right now," He cuts her off as she starts in with 'You don't know what I'm going through'. "But you've got responsibilities. To Seireitei, to your kids, and to yourself. Don't think that you're the first mother to lose her son in a war, Ichimin. Let him go."

"I'm not going to abandon him, Kisuke." She spits the words at him, her eyes flashing in anger, "I'm not going to do that. I'll find a way there." She's being a bitch about it, and she's very aware of this, but she's also riding high on her emotions.

"Let it go. Or find another way. Because I'm not going to do it." He says, turns around, and walks into the back of the Shoten. Ichimin turns around as well, and marches out the front door. She needs to get Urahara to open a Gargantua for her (which he won't), she needs to have Seireitei open a Gargantua for her (which they won't), she needs to find a hollow that'll open a Gargantua for her without killing her (which it won't), or she needs to find a third party that knows how to open a Gargantua and doesn't care about doing it and sending her to her incredibly probable death.

She needs to find that third party.

Unfortunately, she spends about half of the precious month she has stationed here looking unsuccessfully for that third party. She wonders if Aizen really wants her to show up at his grand castle, or if he's just fucking with her.

It's not until there's a major attack from the forces of Aizen, in a moment of strategic weakness at Karakura, that she finds it. She's fighting with an Arrancar, a strong one, and she knows that Kurosaki is fighting Jeagerjaquez, because their reiatsus are clashing over and over again. The battle is catastrophic, damage-wise, as the two of them tear through the city. It's not until, and Ichimin is nearby enough to see this, standing over the corpse of her opponent and currently bleeding, she sees a short-ish woman interrupt the two's fight. It's not long after that the Arrancar retreat, at the order of Ulquiorra (of course), and instead of regrouping at Urahara's building, as they all had agreed upon when all of the Karakura guardians first gathered together, and instead tracks this mystery woman. Curiosity never dies.

When she sees her walk into a warehouse that does not exist, she follows him before whatever keeps people from walking in raises again. She's able to suppress her reiatsu for only a short amount of time when they're in such close proximity, and her distraction, exhaustion, whatever makes her unable to sense her fades quickly and as soon as she walks in the door, she jerks Kyokkou up to parry the swing of a zanpakutou. She sees who the woman is, and she just stares, the moment of distraction offering her the opportunity to twist her own zanpakutou and disarm her, before pinning her to the wall with the blade at her throat.

"How'd a shinigami drag itself in here?" She asks, rhetorically, before swinging her zapakutou in a way that would've beheaded Ichimin, had it connected. It doesn't, and Ichimin swings back. The two clash, and the fighting eventually rolls down into a large open area. It's not a minute after they end up there, still battling, that about twenty swords get shoved into her face, and they disarm her. She's on her knees, hands held high in surrender, looking with awe at all the people she used to call 'Captain' and 'Lieutenant Captain', 'sir' and 'ma'am'.

"Hiyori, you let a shinigami follow you in here?"

"We should kill it."

"Why did you let it in?"

She hears them all talk, until the man holding his zanpakutou at her throat crouches down, and they can look each other in the eye. The little exchange that follows is brief, but not unfriendly.

"Hey Kumorigachi."

"Hello, Captain Hirako."


	11. Run Baby Run

"Are you sure?" Shinji asks her, humorlessly, and she nods. He'd gotten a rather grim expression when he found out that she'd become the Lieutenant of his former division, and smiled just as grimly, if not grimmer, when Ichimin told him about her history with Aizen. The only thing that saved her from being executed by the Vizards so that she wouldn't tell their location, even though she had sworn she wouldn't, was when she told them that she wasn't planning on heading back to Seireitei.

Ichimin, though she didn't know Hirako that well at all, told him everything. Mainly because she's about to do something stupid and selfish, and needs to confess her sins to somebody before she walks straight into Hell itself. Shinji is no saint, but he's close enough.

"After I was excommunicated from the shinigami service, I slipped into the nastier sectors of Rukongai and decided to raise the orphans there, since I had nothing better to do with my life and all my shinigami powers were sealed again. I raised a group of children, until one of my oldest, Kenshin, joined the shinigami service. Against my wishes, of course." She adds on the end, standing not too far away from a skeptical Shinji. She sighs and continues. "I recently learned that he had been taken prisoner by Aizen's forces, and probably as a lure for me to come back to Hueco Mundo to be killed off permanently; tie up the loose ends. I rejoined the shinigami force to find a way to save Kenshin, but the shinigami have declared his rescue a lost cause and won't hear a word of what I have to say. Urahara won't help me either. So…I need your help."

"Why would we help you, again? We do have our own problems." He says, watching her closely. "Between shinigami and Aizen, the threat of our hollows, and what might happen if Ichigo Kurosaki loses control of his hollow somehow and decides to decimate everything, we're busy." Ichimin fiddles with the sleeve of her shihakusho, offhandedly.

"I need a Gargantua opened. I'm going to take the bait. Even if he kills me, I'm saving my son. And if you help me, then you'll probably never see hide nor hair of me again, and won't have to worry about me being tortured into telling your location. And once I'm there, Aizen will be preoccupied with killing me off, or something equally horrible. Karakura will have some time, even if it's only a day or so, to prepare its defenses or mount an attack without being scrutinized and found out. Get rid of me, and you'll have a reprieve, however short." Ichimin looks up at him again, determined. Shinji stares at her, looking unconvinced, his arms crossed, and there's a slight clicking noise as he flicks his tongue piercing against his teeth again and again, a thinking habit of his. After a moment, Ichimin walks to stand in front of him, moves to her hands and knees on the ground at his feet, and bows until her forehead touches the ground.

"Captain Hirako, I beg of you; please assist me in this undertaking. I have no one else to turn to." She implores, and there's a moment of silence before he pushes her shoulder with his foot, with enough force to roll her on her back.

"Don't call me Captain. And fine; if Hachi will do it, then he can open a Gargantua for you. But," He seems to narrow his eyes slightly, "Don't play martyr for Seireitei. You know better than anyone that if they knew the circumstances, they'd be ordering you to do it."

Ichimin lays on her back, arms spread out on each side of her, hair splayed out in a fan around her head, and nods slightly. She looks exhausted, even though she's only slightly tired. "I know that, and I know it damn well."

* * *

When she walks into the Shoten, a cheery Urahara greets her with enthusiasm, and if it's fake, it looks convincing enough.

"Ichimin, good to see you. You were gone there for a little while." He tosses a sly glance at her, as if he's communicating with his eyes. 'You were gone for a little while; that's suspicious, don't you think?' She nods, walks past him and to the round table in back and she stands in the doorway, morose.

"Urahara." She says his name in a serious tone, and he drops the goofy act, watching her with an equally serious expression.

"Came to say 'goodbye'?" He asks, solemnly, and she gives a nod. They don't need to confer what she has to say goodbye about, or where she's going, or how she even found a way there. Now's not the time for those questions.

"Yeah. Thanks, Urahara."

"For what? Refusing to help you?" He quips, and she cracks a slight smirk.

"Yeah. Good hard work always gave me a good feeling, you know. So now I get to run off to the Bataan Death March with a warm and fuzzy rush."

When she walks over to him, she bows at the waist deeply, respectfully. "Thank you, Urahara. It's been fun." She straightens up and holds out a white envelope to him, and he glances between her and it. "Could you give this to Renji, after you know I'm gone? I probably won't live too long after I go, and I can't say goodbye or they'll stop me themselves. The shinigami, I mean."

Urahara takes the letter, giving a slight nod. "When, after you go?"

"The letter isn't sealed; you'll know the right time." She tells him, before pulling off her Lieutenant's badge, and handing it to him as well. "Tell them that I'm sorry." She says, turning, walking away. She doesn't want to say goodbye, because goodbye is too final a word. It's like saying aloud, "I'm never going to see you again". So she doesn't say that, and lets the message go unsaid. From the short amount of time she's actually known him, Urahara's been a really nice guy. Hasn't judged her. Urahara says nothing to her when she leaves. He's never been good with goodbyes either.

Ichimin makes her way to the Vizard's hideout again, making sure not to be followed. And that's when she finds that they're about to open the Gargantua, just as planned. Kyokkou is humming at her hip.

_And you're sure this is the path that you want to take?_

'**Completely.'**

He is silent for a moment, as Hachi opens the Gargantua for her and she stares into the black depths, and she feels a brief flash of fear at the pitch blackness within.

'_Then I am here with you, until the end.'_

Ichimin smiles, reassured, and glances at Shinji, grinning like a happy child, like an innocent drunkard naively falling in love for the first time.

"See ya." She tells him, before turning and running into the Gargantua, before hesitation can set in and she can wonder if it's the right decision or not. She steps through the Gargantua and into the icy blackness, giving no second glance to the real world at her back as the gate shuts at her back and sinks her into pitch blackness.


	12. A Great Desert

As soon as her geta hit sand, she feels the glass-like stuff stinging against her skin in an icy cold sting, feels the temperature drop to what feels like negative ten degrees, and feels all the hollow reiatsus around her immediately begin to drift closer to her position. Ichimin Kumorigachi draws her Kyokkou, spots a glimmer of white in the distance in the form of a gigantic castle-like building, and she begins to shunpo towards it. She wishes she'd have brought a scarf or something to protect herself from the sharp cold and the sand stinging against her skin, kicked up by her shunpos, but soon enough that wish is shoved aside when the hollows convene and attack. She has to release Kyokkou even before getting halfway to Las Noches, which doesn't bode well for her in the long run, but ignores it while cleaving through hollows, using a Kido now and then, though the stuff still terrifies her.

She has to camp out in the Forest of Menos. Alone. Can't start a fire, and so has to spend her reiatsu to keep herself heated. Kills a hollow and, curiously, eats it. It tastes bitter and burns her tongue, but it stays down and is edible, and the fact that she constantly has to expend reiatsu to keep warm means that she's starving. Ichimin doesn't sleep that night, because she's too afraid to and open herself up for attack. The hollow screams that echo between the large tree-like stone objects that make up the forest keep her wide awake all night.

The next day, though it's always night, is spend trekking towards Las Noches still. By the time she has to stop to actually sleep, she's getting close. Ichimin kills another hollow, eats it, and then buries herself deep in the loose sand, leaving a hole to the surface for air. Deep under the sand it's still cold, but she can finally sleep for an hour or two, maybe three (time in Hueco Mundo is nonexistent). When she wakes up because a hollow is trying to dig her out of her hiding place, she snaps out of the spot like a trapdoor spider and slays the hollow, before slicing off a chunk of flesh to eat on the way and beginning to trek again.

When she gets to Las Noches, Ichimin's shihakusho is covered in rips and tears, dried blood coating the flesh underneath these rips from hollow's teeth or claws. Sand clings to her hair and face and clothes, and when she shakes her head, sand shakes out as well. Her lips are chapped and cracked from the harsh and dry conditions outside, and she's constantly tearing up and rubbing her eyes to try and get sand out of them.

All in all, she looks like hell. And she kills the two guards waiting for her in the Las Noches doorway. Arrancar attack her on sight in the hallways, and these are harder to kill than the tooth and claw hollows outside, as these wield zanpakutou. Ichimin has to be crafty here, skillful; she uses the environment to her advantage when she can, and uses her Kido more freely, though it stresses her out still, not to mention her once-broken hands, healed over time, ache when she has to exert the force to use the Kido. She's a bundle of nerves by the time that she walks down the hallway that becomes incredibly familiar, and she's dripping blood in tiny red drops after every step. Kyokkou is dragging in its unreleased form across the white floor, stained with blood, too heavy to lift at the moment. The only thing keeping Ichimin from collapsing from a combination of blood loss, exhaustion, and lack of sleep is pure determination. She coughs, as she has been for a little while now, and it turns into wet hacking as she continues dragging herself onward.

She doesn't even prepare herself when she pushes open the door to the throne room, steps heavy. She doesn't need to.

He's there, up on his throne, watching her as she pushes her way in, staggers slightly, uses her Kyokkou as a crutch for a moment, hangs her head, wheezes and coughs, drips on his nice white floor, and then continues walking haphazardly through the room, towards her son's reiatsu. Weak, but still there. She doesn't look at him, and he doesn't say anything to her. Just watches. When she staggers through a doorway, Gin is there, smiling as always, and points her in the right direction wordlessly. She gives him no glance and instead hurries, something near impossible in the condition that she's in, through to the cell where a figure lays huddled against the cold. When he hears her he raises his head, heavily, before shooting to the bars when he recognizes her.

"Ma?" Kenshin asks her, hoarsely, and Ichimin leans against the bars heavily, nodding her head slowly. She closes her eyes a moment, as Kenshin begins to freak out, and drops to her knees as her legs give out, using Kyokkou as a crutch once again.

'**Forgive me for using you like this so often, my friend.'**

'_Your weight is nothing compared to what I've supported before. I am here for you, in whatever way that you need me.'_

"Ma! Are you all right? Why did you come here? Oh god, ma, you're bleeding everywhere!" Kenshin speaks rapidly, reaching through the bars to touch her, and she grips the hilt of Kyokkou tighter when the shadow looming in the corner of the room grips her under her arms, pulling her to her feet. "Don't you touch her!" Kenshin snarls at Gin, though Ichimin doesn't fight his help (she's too exhausted to fight), and the smiling man shakes his head slightly.

"Ken, ya need to lighten up. Me and your ma, we go _way_ back. Ain't that right, Ichimin?" He asks, nonplussed, as Ichimin leans out of his hands and supports herself against the wall instead. Kenshin stares between the two, confused. "Ichimin? Ma, your name is Amaterasu." Ichimin sees that he looks so thin, so gaunt; he's obviously been tortured, too, from all the haphazardly wrapped torture injuries. His fingernails are gone, he's near starved, can barely support himself. Ichimin looks like hell, but so does Kenshin.

"We do. We go way back." Ichimin confirms, hobbling over to the bars again, and reaching through to draw Kenshin closer and kiss him on the forehead. "I've come here to save your ass, Kenshin. And I've lied to you, I've lied to all of you; about what I've done, about who I really am. Will you ever forgive me?"

"Ma…" Kenshin says quietly, too overcome by emotions to say anything, until Gin lays a hand on Ichimin's shoulder and whispers, "It's time to go." He forces himself to stand then, but falls again soon after putting weight on his feet; Ichimin sees that they've cut his Achilles tendons to keep him from running. "Ma, don't go! Get away from here, run the hell away! You've got Isamu and Gendo and Fujiko and…and…so many others to take care of…you have to teach Setsuo how to handle a zanpakutou so that he can be like Gendo…you have to find Eiji and kick his ass for running off…"

Ichimin smiles at him, sadly, and shakes her head. "I can't do that. My time has all run out from my hourglass when I wasn't looking. I'm an old woman now, and all my hope and dreams have gone. There's no joy left in this old shell. But you, you're young; you have all these things I lost a long time ago. So go back home, Kenshin. Go home and do all the things I can't anymore. Do everything I wish I could have."

Gin turns her around, leading her away gently. Kenshin screams at her back, tells her not to go, begs her to stay. She walks out of their with her heart broken again, eventually having to be supported by Gin as her strength drains further, until he walks her right back into the throne room.

"Ichimin. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Aizen asks her, having moved from his throne to the ground level, seeing her condition wouldn't make it halfway up to his throne. She has to use her zanpakutou as a cane, still, but straightens up and gives him a nod, a curt one at that.

"Would you hold it against me if I said 'not nearly long enough'?" She asks, keeping her expression neutral with a tinge of distaste, and Aizen remains smiling calmly. Too serenely to be safe. He continues smiling as she asks.

"Yes I would."

"It hasn't been nearly long enough," she states again, and he smirks slightly.

"I expected you to say that."

Ichimin sighs slightly, still using her zanpakutou as a cane. She steadies her weight and then holds the blade out to him, handle-first, while setting the actual sword edge against her neck. Aizen just stares at her for a moment, and the wait is kind of pissing Ichimin off. She came here to get this over with and he's dragging it out. "So, kill me. That's what you wanted to do, right?" She goads, wanting to hurry. If he kills her now, she can die on her feet instead of dying sprawled in a heap on the floor at _his_ feet.

"Ichimin," Aizen seems to sigh, pulling Kyokkou away from her and out of her hands, sheathing it for her, and handing it back for her to use as a cane once again, "If I had wanted you dead, then you would already be dead. You should know that by now." He turns and begins to walk, giving a slight gesture of his hand to give her notice to follow. She does, although with slight difficulty masked by steely determination not to show weakness.

"Then what do you want?" She asks his back, tersely. "If not my life, then what's left for you to desire?" At this, she thinks she sees his shoulders shake, very _very_ slightly, as if he were very quietly laughing to himself at her response.

"Ichimin, all this time and you haven't learned. Am I really that much of an enigma to you? We've spent more time together than I've spent personally with almost anyone, aside from Gin and Tosen, of course, and you still haven't figured out one simple truth." Aizen stops in front of the huge bay windows overlooking the permanent Hueco Mundo night, Ichimin making her way after him and stopping at a safe distance (though with the speed of his shunpo, she has no chance to get away even if she were able to run at all), and he glances over his shoulder at her, slyly. Ichimin meets his sly glance with a blunt stare; exhausted, frustrated, and most of all, confused.

"'One simple truth'?" She queries, achingly leaning her weight on Kyokkou even more. The zanpakutou, and by extension, her soul, both groan from the exertion, but are able to ignore it for now. "And…what's that, Aizen? That you always win? That even trying to fight you is futility incarnate? That for every victory the shinigami have, there's a bigger loss right behind it that they just don't see yet?" She interrogates him, and there's too much exhaustion in her to allow her tone to be as fiery as she wishes it could be. The turncoat Captain in front of her smirks slightly, before looking out the window again.

"You're close. But no. This truth is even more obvious than that. You see, Ichimin," He turns back and walks right up to her, and she doesn't even try to back away when he approaches, doesn't flinch when he casually grips her hair, gently enough not to hurt but in a good enough hold to tug her head upwards, so that she watches him closely. "I don't simply 'abandon' my work. Every little piece on my chessboard has a purpose, you see; even you do. You have for a long, long time."

"And…what was that, Aizen? 'Leaving for dead deep within pseudo-enemy territory' counts as abandoning, you know. But I'm sure it was all according to plan, wasn't it? You're not a man, and you're not a monster either, like the shinigami whisper in hushed tones so that you won't hear them say your name. You're a phantom, a scheme. It's the reason nobody can kill you. You're nothing but an _idea_." She states, and though she does sound rather bitter, her tone is less wrathful and more defeated. Aizen lets go of her hair, and instead takes gentle hold of her chin and, as he did a long time ago when he was a Captain and she was a lovesick fool, speaks softly and with a warm smile. It's as transparent as glass.

"An idea? Ideas are intangible things with no effect on living creatures beyond suggestion. You know that I am far more than just an influence."

"I know it…_well_." She murmurs, almost grudgingly. "But that doesn't matter. You have the world. What's left?"

"A man of my stature," Aizen begins to narrate, "has simple pleasures. I enjoy company. I enjoy tea. I enjoy taking walks through Hueco Mundo to observe the scenery."

Ichimin manages to smirk, a bit viciously. "You mean you enjoy slaves, you enjoy being the only one with anything to drink among those dying of dehydration, you enjoy walking through your kingdom and watching proud things like hollows begrudgingly bowing to your whims." She growls, and he smirks as well, though in a different, more sinister manner. It's not overtly sinister, though, and would take someone who knew the man well to spot.

"There's really no difference. But you do know me well, don't you? Amazing how an idiot drunkard set firmly on drinking herself to oblivion can, through certain circumstances, become what you have. You've given up alcohol, haven't you? Grown infinitely stronger and more attuned to your zanpakutou? Responsible and strong enough to survive in Rukongai again, this time supporting a ragtag band of urchins?" Aizen queries, drawing her closer as he does, and when she begins to raise Kyokkou to keep him apart from her, he pulls the blade from her hands and tosses it across the room, the metallic shrieking noise as the blade skids across the floor echoing cacophonically in the normally silent room. Ichimin doesn't squeal in fear, as she would have originally, and merely bites her split lower lip and stares up at his deep eyes with her own narrowed dull green pair. He still holds her lower jaw, cradling it in his palm, and leans down to speak softly in her ear.

"What can I possibly want? Nothing, and that's the beauty of it, Ichimin. And so, for the interest of getting my investment back and other things to be discussed later, I'll offer you a trade. You came here for your son's life, and it would be heartless to deny that to you. You for him. A life for a life; that's a fair trade, isn't it?"

They stare one another down, intensely, before she gives a resigned sigh and closes her eyes. She mumbles something, leaning her weight fully against him, before slipping out of his grip and collapsing. Aizen takes hold of the unconscious woman's upper arm and lifts her up by it, noting the blood now on his once-clean white floor.

"Gin," He calls, because he knows that the other man is undoubtedly looming nearby (he's right), "Fetch our medic princess, will you?"

* * *

Kenshin paces around his cell constantly, as best he can (though his 'pacing' is more or less crawling to another corner of his cold cell and seething). How long has it been since he's seen anyone not allied with Aizen; how long since he's seen anybody except someone here to taunt the lone shinigami POW? The only guests he has here are nameless Arrancar that leave him scraps to survive off of, only barely, to keep his strength down, and Ichimaru himself, who delights in mental torture of the most insidious type. He tells lies, calls his mother a whore. Kenshin lashes against the bars like a rabid dog every time he does it, too; never disappoints. Then Gin laughs, and outlines gruesome and disgusting things that he's done to people; not just Amaterasu, or Ichimin, or whoever he says that he's violated, but random people. He tells stories, lies, and sometimes, he just listens to Kenshin spit venomous insults at him. And he always just smiles.

And how long had he been here? Years, it must have been. Felt like it. Of course, what time feels like doesn't mean jack shit here; there is no time in Hueco Mundo, and a normal human's sense of time becomes distorted. Aizen, Ichimaru and Tosen seem to have gotten relatively used to it, seeing as they can still plan attacks upon Seireitei, and the hollows don't know anything else, but Kenshin had trouble for a little. Then he stopped giving a damn. They broke his hands after he tried to fight his captors. They cut his Achilles tendons when he tried to run. And if his mother hadn't shown up soon, Gin had been planning to slit out his tongue for all the vile things he's said. And yes, he had told Kenshin, cheerfully enough, that he was going to do it soon.

'_I'll want to cut it out deep, since at the tip you'll just feel a little uncomfortable. But if I want to get it out, I'll be havin' to remove your jaw. So, yeah. Get ready for that.'_

That's why he hadn't looked up or recognized the strange reiatsu coming towards him when Ichimin came to save him; he had been so dejected and accustomed to torture that he assumed Ichimaru had finally come to kill him in a rather agonizing manner. He still wasn't planning on begging or even giving the man the satisfaction of direct eye contact, and so, quite bluntly, was going to be a bitch about it.

Now his mother had come and tried to save him. And for what? For that weasel Ichimaru to lead her off to god-knows-where, probably some horrible torture. No. He's not going to think about what could be happening to his mother because of him. He's always been a guilty sort of guy, and right now, he can't handle that crushing sensation on his soul.

Footsteps approach his cell, and Kenshin whirls around, eyes wide and, somehow, hopeful.

"Hah. Haven't seen you that lively in a long time, Ken." Gin drawls, Cheshire smile still attached, leading someone with him. Kenshin's heart drops when he sees that it isn't Ichimin, but some other woman. She's got a regal, reserved air about her, long orange-toned hair at her hips, gray eyes lowered respectfully; Kenshin hasn't seen her in person before, but he's aware that this must be Orihime Inoue, the long-held captive of Aizen. How many years has she supposedly been here? He guesses around a century or two. Poor woman. He's been here one year (he supposes) and is already near the breaking point; she's been here a hundred times longer and seems pretty contained, calm; serene. Gin walks out of the cell room after handing her the keys to his cell, since he knows that Orihime knows too well that she can't run away and that it's not even worth it to try, as she wordlessly walks up and opens the cell. She kneels beside him and begins to examine his wounds. Kenshin assumes that the powerful healer is just preparing to use whatever healing skill she has.

"Where's my mother? She just got here." He asks, but Orihime remains silent, says nothing. Kenshin glares at her silence as she kneels at his left, keeping her head down. "Answer me!" He growls. She doesn't flinch, doesn't look at him. Kenshin huffs, annoyed, and tells her, "Just get out of here. They're only gonna kill me, anyway."

"Not true," Orhime tells him quietly, pressing her hands over the wounds on the back of his feet. Kenshin laughs, shortly and without humor.

"Yeah? You don't know anything. They've got my mom, for god's sake! Why'd she come? Why didn't she just leave me here?" He ends in a despairing moan, as Orihime takes her hands off of him and stands, briefly.

"I don't know, mister Tachibana." She says, calmly, but instead of leaving (like Kenshin wants her to) she just lingers there, watching him. He eventually glares up at her, in a singularly horrible mood, and snaps, "Get out of here. I'm sick of looking at you." He knows that this is a horrible thing to say, that he's going to regret it later. He's just got no idea how much he'll regret it. Orihime gives a slight nod, unspeaking, and turns, walking out the door with Gin close behind. Kenshin sits there in his cell, and waits for whatever's going to happen.

Some amount of time later (he can't tell how much), Gin comes and drags him out of his cell, whistling a cheery…funeral dirge. Great.

"Well, it's been hella fun, Ken, but everything good comes to an end, I guess." He chimes, as Kenshin staggers haphazardly along after him. Outside, a Gargantua is being prepared for some reason. Kenshin is confused. Gin shoves Kenshin towards the now-open Gargantua. "Say goodbye to ya mom."

Kenshin sees that Ichimin isn't far away, and she walks towards him, expression…terse. When Kenshin breathes a relieved-yet-fearful 'Ma!', and tries to hug her, she flinches slightly until Gin drags Kenshin off of her, shoving him towards the mouth of the Gargantua. At the last moment, Kenshin sees Ichimin lunge towards him and the Gargantua, unexpectedly; Gin goes to grab her, but hesitates for exactly one second when there's a flash of light and she is no longer Ichimin, but…Orihime?

"Let's go!" Orihime shouts, grabbing Kenshin and lunging through the Gargantua. Kenshin is confused, but in too much of a rush to actually stop and think about what's happening. He sees Ichimaru's expression right as the Gargantua closes, and he would laugh at that shocked look on his face.

After this Gargantua closes, and Orihime Inoue makes a smooth escape with Kenshin Tachibana, Gin stands there a moment. He wasn't expecting _that_. Not long later, he heads back into Las Noches, where Aizen is waiting in his throne room, standing at the doorway. And from the look on his face, he knows exactly what has happened.

"Gin, what was that that just disappeared?"

"Well…" Gin starts, scratching his neck as he tries to explain. "Looks like somebody figured out a way to play with illusions, too. Ichimin turned out to be Inoue."

"Where did you leave Ichimin after Inoue healed her?" Aizen queries, calmly.

"Ah, I stuck her in her old room 'til it was time to get rid 'a her son." Gin explains. Aizen sighs, gently.

"And Inoue?"

"Ah, put her back in her room."

The two stare at one another for a moment, before Gin stretches and Aizen begins to trace a path to Orihime's room.

"Ya have fun now, y'hear?" Gin calls in good nature at Aizen's back as he walks out the door and makes his way to Orihime's room. When he opens the door, lo and behold; Ichimin is sprawled out on the poofy couch, polishing Kyokkou with her white Las Noches uniform. Her back is to him, and she doesn't look back when she hears the door.

"And so I assume you've found a new trick of your zanpakutou's to use?" He asks, calmly. She shrugs her shoulders, continuing to polish.

"I spent a lot of time around you. I suppose my soul changed to accommodate that. You're the moon, I'm the sun. Your technique is built upon lies, and mine can only change the truth into another form of that same truth." She explains, lethargically. "I guessed that you had used your illusions to make Orihime feel more complacent and calm, I was able to take your illusion and warp it from simply making her feel calm into making her look like me, and carried that illusion over to work on myself as well, since you had done it to me too. That's how I figured out you'd done something to us in the first place." She shoots him a dirty look into the reflection of his face in Kyokkou's blade. "We had a chance to switch out right when Gin looked the other way with a loud noise outside. Took just a split second, and Inoue caught onto it just as fast." Ichimin falls silent, continues to polish Kyokkou, and watches Aizen approach at her back in a calm pace. She stands up here, preemptively, and watches for any signs of displeasure, rage, _murderous_ rage, anything.

"You're very sure of yourself, aren't you, Ichimin?" He asks, casually. "How do you know that this isn't all an illusion right now?"

"I don't," Ichimin states, and can't help but sneer just a little bit when she adds the next part. "And that's the _beauty_ of it, Aizen."

He smirks as well, though it's in a darker way than hers. She's getting a kick out of pissing him off, and he **is** pissed. Of course he doesn't _show_ it; Aizen has never shown when he's pissed off. But he's in front of her in the blink of an eye, hand around her throat, pinning her against the wall. Her head bangs against the white wall from the pure force of how hard he shoves her against it. There is anger in his eyes, and though he's not gritting his teeth or any other sign of anger, (in fact he's smiling in a coldly amused sort of way) he doesn't have to. There is enough homicidal rage in his eyes to make up for any other lack of reaction.

"You're very cocky nowadays." Aizen muses, as Ichimin grips his wrist with both her hands and tries to pry his fingers from around her throat. Kyokkou is not in her hands anymore, but the edge of the blade is trained over her heart, pressing urgently into the flesh. "I've never liked proud people, especially when they feel that they are important enough not to warrant an execution. Honestly," he tightens his grip, and she can almost _hear_ him crushing her trachea, "I've never met anyone, man or woman, that I wouldn't kill if they lost their usefulness or proved to be more trouble than they're worth." Aizen sees her hands over her crushed throat begin to glow with healing Kido. Of course. After a moment, her breathing begins again, and becomes horribly wheezing, a death rattle. He rolls her over with his foot, pressed on her stomach, and keeps her zanpakutou pinned over her heart.

"Now Ichimin, tell me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now. You've caused me an awful lot of trouble. Are you worth it?"

She looks up at him now, staring with equal vitriol.

"No. But you won't kill me. You have an ulterior motive, because if you didn't, I'd already be dead. You know I have limited healing Kido powers. If you wanted me dead, then you would've speared me through the heart by now. I know you want something from me; this is a test. I _know_ you." Ichimin rasps, lying on her back, staring at him. After a long moment of silence, Aizen finally does pierce her through the heart.

"You don't know a thing about me, Ichimin. But I know you completely."

She stares at Kyokkou's blade for a moment, terrified, before she realizes that there is no blood, and there is no pain. After a moment of confusion, she looks up to see that it's not Aizen wielding her zanpakutou. It's Kyokkou himself, blond and scarred and so very tired, leaning his weight on the sword piercing her heart. Aizen has taken a step back, and seems…frozen. Ichimin looks up at Kyokkou, questioningly.

"Kyokkou?" She asks him, and feels so _tired_. The zanpakutou spirit merely stares at its master, disapprovingly.

_"I warned you of pride. I warned you of what may happen when you are proud. I cautioned against your vainglorious nature, against your constant need to be superior to this man who has no superior. I told you that I would help you acclimate to a new lifestyle in Rukongai; I would lend you my temperate mood, and take your more destructive impulses myself to save us both, as long as you would not be reckless. And I gave you an ultimatum in return for this offer."_ Kyokkou states, severely, as Ichimin raises her hands to him, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry-"

The zanpakutou blade twists, and agony courses through her veins instead of the blood now slowly seeping into her clothing.

_"You promised me that you would go to the other side of death to attain serenity, and I promised to take you there if you could not fulfill that promise. You stared at my reflection in the lake and swore to me that you would become tranquility if only I would take your temptation from you, and I swore to you that you would become serenity, even if you were unable to do this yourself."_

"Don't!" Ichimin manages to gurgle at him, and she brushes her fingers along his. He grips the blade of his physical zanpakutou self tighter, staring at her pitilessly.

_"I have no pity for you. And neither do you."_

Aizen pulls the zanpakutou blade free after taking a step back. He hasn't punctured the aorta itself, only nicked it. If she's quick, she can heal herself. Her hand lies over the wound, and she does heal the wound quickly enough to live. She also manages to stand, shakily, but straightens herself up with a previously unknown regality. Her eyes are calm, her breathing is calming down, her pulse slows to a calm pace; not even the blood staining her bosom can make her seem anything but serene. Aizen takes a step towards her again, closing the distance between them, and with the blade of her own zanpakutou, turns her chin up so that she looks at him. His rage has cooled incredibly quickly, as it always has; whatever part Inoue played in his plans for the future weren't incredibly important. She was superfluous from the beginning, to be honest.

"Who do you serve?" He asks her, smiling in a way that should be charming, but comes off incredibly icy.

"No one." She tells him, her voice calm and deadpan.

"Who owns you?" the zanpakutou blade under her chin presses against her throat, threatening to tear it wide open with the slightest flick of his wrist.

"I do." The feeling of the blade nicking her skin is ignored, and she resists the urge to reach up and brush the blade away. Instead she grips the blade near the hilt, near his hand, as he pushes her against the wall again and leans in close.

"But who are you devoted to?" Aizen queries lowly, and for a moment, he thinks he sees the old Ichimin flicker back to life; the lovable drunk with a heart of gold, the one that adored him with all of her heart and soul.

"That's a stupid question." She tells him, as the blade of her zanpakutou cuts into her palm and blood stains her sleeve, and leans forward for a soft kiss. And it is soft; for that moment, it's almost as if they're shinigami again, standing on a moonlit rooftop without a care in the world, with sake on her breath and ill intentions on his mind.

* * *

**((Well, next chapter is the epilogue (unless something radical comes to me, which I'm pretty sure it won't). Long story, counting Faux Smiles and Bluebird's Illusion altogether with this one. The epilogue will explain some things, so don't worry. What do you guys think of it?))**


	13. Epilogue: Always Adore

Urahara is there when the shinigami and the guardians of Karakura find out that she's left. Most of them don't care, because they didn't know her all too well. He thinks that she might have planned it that way from the beginning. Don't make ties with people that you know you're going to have to break sometime.

He read the note before giving it to anyone.

_To Renji,_

_I'm going to Hueco Mundo to save my son Kenshin, if I can. I'm probably not going to live through this mission, and for that, I'm sorry. If I ever come back, then I'm probably going to be your enemy, and I'm also sorry about that. You're one of the best friends I have ever had, and I have to thank you for that. If I am ever seen again, then I am most likely with Aizen; I most likely had no choice in the matter. It has happened before, and it will probably happen again if he doesn't have me murdered. But please, if you ever see me again, I want to apologize to you, face-to-face. I think…nevermind. If I had been more someone normal and less myself, I'd have liked to…I'm so sorry that it had to end like this, Renji. I'll miss you._

_Love, Ichimin_

Urahara stares at the note for a long time, before, in the dead of night, he sits down and painstakingly copies her handwriting, forging an entire new letter in her script. Urahara knows that it isn't really his business, but he won't allow her to drag anyone down with her. They are in a war, and even if her words are heartfelt, sometimes people shouldn't hear them. He writes a new letter that, though fake, will hurt everyone much less. They will hate her for what she has done, but she won't drag Abarai down with her.

_To Whom It May Concern:_

_I am going to Hueco Mundo to save my son. I will not survive the attempt, or at least, will never return in a friendly position with you or anyone else. I will not make a proficient shinigami for the war if this matter is unsolved and I am forced to fight with this weight on my conscience. If I am alive at this point in time, then I will most likely be in a romantic position with Aizen, though that makes me traitorous. If you ever see me again, then kill me if you are able, without me seeing your face if it is possible. I'm sorry it had to end like this._

_Former Lieutenant Captain Kumorigachi_

He burns her original letter and gives the new one to Captain Hinamori, who relates the news to the rest of Seireitei. Renji never learns that the letter is a fake, or that the original copy was for him alone. He alienates himself from Ichimin's memory and is able to treat her as a traitorous whore, as the majority of Seireitei does.

Urahara allows the weight of what he's done settle on his conscience, along with all the other weights he bears. It is a cruel option, but it is one that he was forced to make. And no one ever knows the truth except for him.

* * *

Kenshin returns with Orihime Inoue to Rukongai's outskirts, where the Gargantua left them. She heals his wounds and he, in return, escorts her to Seireitei, where he is declared a hero for saving Inoue from Aizen's clutches. When he discovers the letter that his mother had left, he won't believe that it's true. He refuses to. He saw her on the other side of those bars, humble and desperate and only doing what she had to, out of pure motherly love.

He rejoins with his siblings, and they recover from the sudden loss of their mother. Fujiko is heartbroken and guilty for giving Ichimin so much trouble in her later years. Setsuo remains withdrawn and quiet, and speaks with no one about Ichimin. He does, however, mourn in his own way, which is to be alone and to cherish her favorite things. Eiji returns after he finds that Kenshin has also returned, and Kenshin beats the fellow shinigami half to death. He blames Eiji for something. Eiji, when he finds out about his mother, is despondent. He talks about the time he's wasted, or lost. Gendo shows slight sadness, though he hides his emotions incredibly well. Isamu becomes more violent, more reckless; Chinatsu has to have Gendo and Kenshin's help in keeping Isamu from tearing Rukongai apart out of rage and despair.

Kenshin steels himself, feeling guiltiest of all, and spends his time with his zanpakutou spirit.

One year later, they all meet again at the old family home. All have finally heard Ichimin's true history, and they have accepted it. Setsuo did not become a shinigami, out of respect for his mother's hatred of them. He becomes a self-taught doctor for Rukongai and takes in orphans when he can. Eiji remains a shinigami, and from the day he heard what had happened to his mother on, he never breaks a promise to anyone, ever again. Fujiko joins the Fourth Division and cares for wounded shinigami. Isamu and Gendo remain without shinigami titles, though they keep their zanpakutou, and they roam the Rukongai with Chinatsu at their heels as the lawless law of sorts. They're almost like vigilantes without a purpose. And they don't really follow the law a lot, either.

Kenshin, meanwhile, has risen through the ranks in Eleventh. He's a great shinigami, people tell him this. But he's not interested in being the best shinigami around anymore. He's got something else on his mind, something crazier.

That long year later, Kenshin stands in front of all of them, and he looks every one of them in the eye. And what he says is completely insane; it makes them all stare at him, in shock.

"I'm going to go back and save her."

* * *

Aizen continues to rule over his legion of hollows, continues to plot, as he has for all the years since the war began, from even before that, from when the first thought of treason and godhood crossed his mind. Ichimin is still there with him, at his side; she remains devoted to him, with all of her heart.

It isn't hard to keep Ichimin happy, though. He had his own wishes fulfilled and at the same time, made her infinitely happier than she ever could have been any other way. He slips away from his throne and traces his way back to their shared room, finding her there.

Ichimin herself, that long year after returning, is sprawled on the long couch, eyes closed, with a napping infant held close to her. Of all the things Aizen could give her to keep her happy, he gave her the one thing he knew she would treasure above all others. She's a wonderful mother, though has a problem with letting him or anyone else get near the child. Aizen is a bit worried that she's going to coddle the boy into a useless man. He won't allow it, really; though he has little to do with the baby, for now, he's going to take full charge of his training when he gets older. Ichimin has a huge problem with allowing Gin anywhere near the baby, which kind of upsets Gin, a tiny, tiny bit. It's not like he devours children or anything. He kind of likes kids. Ichimin tells him that he's a horrible influence for any child, ever, and that he's not going to corrupt _her_ baby.

Of course, she's wrong. Gin is going to assist in the boy's training to handle his no doubt immense reiatsu in the future. But right now, Ichimin can coddle this baby all she wants.

Their relationship remains passionate, though nowhere near as much as before their son Shinjiro was born. Aizen picked the name, of course. Aizen himself does little of the childcare aspect; he only wants his heir, and is more than a bit interested in what the power level of his son is going to be. Ichimin is with the baby almost twenty-four seven.

She talks about ending the war soon so that their son doesn't have to be a part of it, but she and Aizen and Gin all know that she's just lying to herself. Of course Shinjiro is going to be in the war; there's too much potential in him _not_ to. Ichimin doesn't like it at all, but she's always had little say in actual decisions, and so will have to argue when the time comes. Until then, Aizen knows that he has a possible third in charge (Gin will always be second, and Tosen has an entirely different position that pretty much puts him level with Gin) in the future, and either way, Ichimin will remain happy.

* * *

After Aizen falls asleep, she dresses herself and slips out of bed, her fingers closing around her zanpakutou's hilt as she walks out to the balcony. It's cold, of course, but she's used to the cold. She stands and stares at the backwards moon, calmly, before looking at her zanpakutou.

"I'm taking care of them for you. Do not worry." She tells the blade, and it hums faintly underneath her fingertips. Sometimes, she really does feel guilt for having to do this, but she knows that over time, her other half will eventually take over again, and things will be as they should be. Ichimin made a promise to be serene, to be calm, to never allow herself a death caused by her own vainglory, as long as Kyokkou helped her in this by taking away her more difficult to control emotions and urges. Kyokkou agreed, and set what would happen if she were unable to do this on her own. She wasn't, and now, Kyokkou is doing what he promised he would. He will take care of her life for her, until she is able to overcome herself and return.

Far away, as far on the other side of death as a soul can be, Ichimin Kumorigachi slumbers in a tall field of golden grain that she's never been able to reach before.

* * *

**((So, that's it. I really don't have anything to say here, other than thanks for sticking around for the entire story. See you later, space cowboy.))**


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